X5 SON
by EmpressV
Summary: The son Zack kept in hiding emerges on a quest to find his father, but he ends up uncovering more secrets than he wished.
1. X5 son #1: Mission Mom and Dad

Title: X5 Son #1: Mission Mom and Dad   
Author: Empress Vader   
Rating: PG   
Spoilers: Hit a Sista Back, Designate This, Some Assembly Required   
The Berrisford Agenda (very minor spoiler)   
Disclaimer: you know, all that stuff about Dark Angel belonging to Cameron, Eglee, and Fox. No copyright infringement intended, blah blah blah. 

Summary: Case and a boy named Colin with a link to X5 travel to Seattle to find their parents. Jondy comes after the runaway boys and finds out what happened to Zack, which leads to conflict with Max. 

Timeline: based on events up too and including The Berrisford Agenda. Occurs more than a year and a half after Zack is shipped to the Ranch. Max still has the touch-Logan-and-kill-him-virus. 

Primary Dark Angel Characters: Jondy, Max, Case, Logan, Charlie 

Original Characters: Elizabeth, Colin 

Other Characters: Original Cindy, Asha, Alec, Zack (Zack is talked about more than he is present, which will change later in the series)   


*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

Zack stood side by side with Jondy on top of a building. They both were watching Case and his father get on a train. There was a woman behind him with a boy of her own. She bumped into Charlie and they laughed and struck up a conversation, their sons weren't really interested in each other. 

"Can't you get someone else to do this?" Jondy asked. "I want to help with Tinga." 

"I can't believe you don't want this assignment instead. Don't you care what happens to him?" 

"Of course," Jondy replied. 

The fact that Zack had chosen her as guardian to that precious little boy should have felt like a gift, but it didn't. The reason he'd chosen her and not someone else was obvious to him and her. There were other reason for him also. Zack had called on her for the same reason he'd paired her with Max the night of the escape. When it came to being a soldier, he trusted her. 

"No one else knows about him, what he is to us." Zack looked toward where the train was loading. "I need you here," Zack said with a more desperate sound in his voice than intended. "After what happened to Case-- Promise me you'll take care of him. He needs you now. I'll handle Max and Tinga, if I need help I'll call in the others. But I need you on this." Zack sighed. "Can I count on you?" 

"Of course," Jondy replied. "I'm just -- afraid." 

She had uttered a word that Zack would never admit to feeling. 

"Afraid for him?" Zack asked. 

"Him and us," Jondy replied. 

Jondy glanced over at Zack. The man tried to appear so strong, but he was full of weaknesses. His biggest weakness being his sisters. The world outside of Manticore had made him more aware of gender roles, not that he saw his sisters as some frail little things that couldn't handle themselves. But suddenly, his fellow soldiers became women and not just because they had gone through puberty. He was vulnerable right now, though he would never show it. She threw her arms around him. She had this feeling that she wouldn't be seeing him for awhile and he must have had that same feeling of doom or he wouldn't have bothered to call on her. 

"Take care of yourself," she whispered next to his ear. "And I'll take care of him." 

He hugged her back, but he was far away from her. His body was still here, but his mind was elsewhere. The assignment was given, he was secure in moving on. She broke the embrace, turned away, and he was gone. The speed with which he disappeared would amaze most people, but it was the norm for them. 

She looked back at Case, innocent bright eyes. She saw her sister reflected back at her. Case had almost died, her sister lost - possibly forever. An innocent little boy almost killed because of who his mother was. She had to do this for Zack, no she had to do this for herself. It couldn't happen again.   


SOME TIME LATER 

Case crept out of bed and slid into the kitchen. He threw the cakes into a book bag and closed the bag. He shouldn't be doing this, but he had accepted the mission Colin had given him, for his own reasons. Colin was his only friend, everyone else saw him as this weird little smart kid. His father didn't understand. Case hadn't understood completely until Marci had opened up to them. 

Colin jumped the fence into Case's yard. Case met him with a book bag slung on his back. Colin had a bag too. Colin was two years older than Case. Their parents had met awhile back, but the boys had become friends in a Karate class. Their instructor, Marci, had taken a special interest in them, taught them special techniques. Because of this, escaping home without their parents knowing had been a simple task because of it. 

"You ready Case?" Colin asked. 

"Yeah," Case replied. "I forged the letters like you told me to and I got this--" 

Case pulled out a handful of money. 

"Did you take that from your dad?" 

"No, I actually earned it helping out dad's boss a couple times." 

"Well I got some money too, so we should be straight there." 

Colin put out his hand. "No matter what happens, brothers for life right?" 

"Brothers," Case said gripping his friends hand.   


As bright as Case was, it was clear the older Colin had always been the leader of the two. The plan had been his and Case had went along. He needed Colin's acceptance and approval. They were both searching for parents, their other parent, the one the parents they had wouldn't talk about. Colin knew the way to the bus station, he'd had this great escape planned for months. They bought their tickets, showing the cashier a note from their parents so he wouldn't think they were runaways. They got the tickets and boarded the bus. 

"This is it," Colin said as they took their seat. "If you're going home--" 

"No," Case said. "I have to do this." 

"All right little brother, let's go," Colin said. 

They sat back in the seat and watched home disappear behind them.   
  


SEATTLE 

A brownout had trapped Alec and Max in Logan's apartment with Asha...and Logan. However, Logan was out at the moment borrowing some candles from a neighbor. That left two very uncomfortable women and a guy who was feeding off the tension in the room. 

"Can't you ever be serious?" Max asked after some underhanded comment about Logan. 

"Of course," Alec said. 

"Then seriously tell us something that bothers you," Asha said. 

"Bothers me?" Alec asked. "How about two women who--" 

"Be serious," Max said interrupting whatever he was going to say. "And keep it about you." 

He studied the annoyed look on her face for a minute. Asha was watching him seeing if he would react. She decided to be serious for a moment. 

"Okay, seriously. One of my regrets is that X6 kid that I jammed up," Alec told them seriously. "Bet I know what Max's regret is. Not getting closer to Logan before that virus got in the middle of them." 

"Actually, your wrong," Max said. "It's Case. I promised him his mother. I didn't keep my promise and I can't keep it. Zack has his second chance, despite what's happen to him. And Logan and I have a chance at being able to shake hands again one day without the threat of death. Case can never get his mother back." 

"Have you seen him since she died?" Asha asked. 

"I wrote a letter to Charlie, explaining everything when I got back from Manticore, but I haven't spoken to either of them lately." 

"You know you can't take the blame for that," Asha told her. 

"I made a promise, again, because it felt right at the moment. And now that kid is going to hate me." 

They heard the door open. Logan had returned. 

"That Mrs. Moreno can talk your ear off," he said. "No candles, but she let me borrow some tap lights." He sat at the table with the other three. "So what are we doing?" 

"Talking about our biggest regret ,"Alec replied. "Bet yours is Max." 

He didn't answer. 

"Sorry, but your not hers," Alec teased him. 

"She said it was Case," Asha replied in reaction to the look on Logan's face. 

"Case?" Logan questioned. 

"I stood right there," she pointed to a spot in Logan's apartment near his door. "I promised him his mother, I didn't deliver." 

"But you couldn't have known--" 

"It doesn't matter," Max replied. "All he'll remember is that Aunt Max promised him." 

"I didn't know it bothered you so much," Logan replied. 

"She had everything, her prince, her castle, the happily ever after. Sure, I gave them jobs and everything in my head, but I never really understood that these people I was searching for had these real lives." 

"You can't undo what's been done Max," Logan told her. 

He could look at her and tell these words weren't a comfort to her. He hadn't realized Case's disappearance still bothered her.   
  


Max and Alec both left Logan's the next morning. As they mounted their bikes, Alec turned to Max. 

"I'm sorry about your sister and your nephew," Alec said in one of his rare sincere moments. 

"Thanks," Max replied. "But Logan's right, I can't bring Tinga back no more than you can bring--" She stopped herself before saying Rachel. 

"Hey your brother what's-his-name, Jack." 

"Zack." 

"Right, Zack, he showed up. Who knows?" he shrugged and pushed off on his bike. 

"And look how great that turned out," Max replied as she started off for work behind him. 

She never saw the two children watching her. 

"That's her," Case said pointing to the dark haired girl. "That's Max." 

"Jake said she was beautiful," Colin said. "I guess she's okay." 

"Should we talk to her?" Case asked the older boy. "That Logan guy is upstairs. He knows stuff too." 

"No," Colin told him. "We talk to Max. We will wait for our moment. She's going to work now, right? Let her work and we'll watch her just to be sure. Remember all the things Marci taught us."   
  
  


The boys, who had acquired bikes of their own through trade, followed Max and Alec. They followed them to Jam Pony and observed them for most of the day. Case looked to Colin for instructions on when to be close and when to keep a distance. They went through most of the day undetected. 

At the end of the workday, the boys prepared to follow her home. But she didn't go home, she sidetracked. Max got off her bike and went into an abandoned building. Perplexed, the boys followed her as far as the entrance. 

"Maybe we should wait for her to come out," Case said. 

"She knows someone is following her," Colin said. "But she doesn't know who we are, she doesn't understand. I guess it's time we spoke to her." Colin turned to Case. "Stay here and watch your back." 

Colin disappeared inside the building. 

Case paced outside for awhile. He hadn't been this far away from his father in years. And now Colin wasn't even here, he was standing outside in an unfamiliar city, alone. Ever since his mother had left, they'd been extra cautious. Colin had left town on the same train as himself and his father, they became neighbors, but they didn't become friends on their own. 

Colin's mother had signed him up for some Karate classes. The classes were taught by Marci. Some of the older boys picked on him, in school. Elizabeth and Charlie were friends, so she convinced a reluctant Charlie to sign his son up for the classes. 

Marci had put the two boys together, telling Colin to watch out for Case. Case had been grateful. One day, Colin began talking about Jake. He said he thought Jake was his father, though Jake himself had never said so. Jake came around and watched him from a distance when he was playing a few times and he use to visit him and his mother late at night. He'd pretended to be asleep on one of these occasions and Jake had come in to tuck him in. He was only pretending to be asleep, so he pretended to wake up. He and asked him who he was and he said "Jake, a friend of your mothers." From then on, he and Jake began to talk at every visit by his bedside. He never admitted to being his father, but he never denied it either. It was enough for Colin. He told Case about the barcode he'd spotted on Jake and suddenly Case's face lit up and he began rambling about his mother and her tattoo. 

The X5 sons began comparing notes. He asked Colin to draw a picture of Jake's barcode. Case recognized it right away and told Colin he knew him. It was a complete and utter accident that they walked in on Marci stretching one day and saw she too had a barcode. They demanded an explanation. She tried to avoid the issue at first, made up some story about kids and a gang she belonged to when she was younger. 

The truth, at least as much of it as she would tell, came after a day of nagging and saying they would go to their parents, . Case went into the fairy tales his mother told and Marci explained the reality behind them. She just talked about the past, things leading up to the escape. Everything after that remained vague. Colin and Case were so excited about their unexpected link, nothing else mattered. Suddenly so many things about themselves made sense. The boys got closer and closer with each passing day. They began to visit Marci after school learning a mix of techniques, some from Manticore, some from the time she had spent with Master Yen. She tested them in various things. She told them if they were old enough to know the truth about their past they had to know how to defend themselves. Colin discovered surprising physical abilities he'd never known he had. 

Colin and Case continued to exchanged stories, planned operation find mom and dad for months, and then they'd come to Seattle. Come to find Penny and Jake a.k.a Tinga and Zack, or at least a clue as to where they had gone. As far as he knew, Max was the only one who had any clues. And they couldn't demand anymore of Marci. 

"What are you doing here?" a female voice asked. 

He turned slowly toward the voice, his eyes widened. 

"I can explain," the small boy declared.   
  


Colin stepped cautiously up the stairs listening for any sound. It was quiet, too quiet. Suddenly someone dropped down behind him and pinned his arms behind his back. He struggled to escape, but found it impossible. 

"Let me go," he screamed. 

"Let him go," another voice said. The person saying it was hidden from view, but then the small woman stepped into the light. The woman was holding a gun in her hand. Max let go of the boy. A little boy stepped from behind the woman. 

"It's me," Case said. 

"Case," Max said shocked. 

"Marci," Colin said running to the woman with the gun. 

"How do you know my nephew?" Max asked. 

"She's one of us Max," Case said. 

Max eyed him curiously when he used the term "us". Then she studied the woman the older boy had called Marci. Max turned and showed the woman her barcode. A smile crept over Marci's face. 

"It's you?" Marci said. "I thought you were dead. Krit said you were gone the last time I spoke to him." She turned to reveal her barcode to Max. 

"Jondy," Max said excited. 

The gun fell and Jondy ran into Max's arms. The two women embraced each other. 

"Jondy?" Colin question. "Jeez, does anybody tell me their real name." 

"I should have know she was Jondy," Case said to himself. "I thought she was Syl." 

The boys shrugged. 

"Who's the older boy?" Max asked Jondy. 

"Our brother's son," Jondy told her. 

"Our brother?" 

"X5 599," Jondy said. 

Max looked at the boy. Cut away the brown hair into a Manticore cut and you would have Zack. Still, she'd never imagined Zack as a father. 

"Zack had a son?" she asked amazed. 

"Yes, but I don't think this is the proper place for explaining family history," Jondy told her. 

"I have a place we can go," Max said. 

Max and Jondy left the building with the two boys close behind.   
  


LOGAN'S PENTHOUSE 

Logan stood at the window with his friend Asha. He hadn't admitted it, but he was a little shocked when he found out he wasn't Max's biggest regret. He felt foolish, selfish, and childish for having these feelings, but he told Asha anyway. 

"I shouldn't be jealous of them, I try not to be. But there will always be this other part of her that alienates me, even if she doesn't want it to." 

"Family is Family Logan," Asha replied. "No matter what kind of family it is." 

"Not mine. Believe, no one in my family would shoot themselves in the head for me." 

"You have a niece right?" 

"Technically she's my second cousin, but yeah." 

"What if you had looked at that sweet little girl after her mother or father had been kidnapped or something, and said you would get their mother or father back." 

"I understand that," Logan said. "But I just have this illogical need to be as important as them. From the moment I met her, they were all she talked about. I hate to say it, but I felt sort of validated by the fact she chose me over Zack. And I knew he would always be someone special to her, but still I was jealous. I knew there was nothing going on, but I was anyway." 

"You don't have to be perfect Logan," Asha told him. "We all have illogical, selfish feelings sometimes. It's okay to be a regular guy, don't put yourself down for these feelings. It not like you beat the guy's head in." 

"Considering he could probably break me in half, that wouldn't have been very smart." 

Asha smiled. The door suddenly opened, ending there conversation. It was Max, another woman, and two boys. 

"Look what I found?" Max said. 

"Who's this?" Logan asked. 

"Asha, Logan, I'd like you two to meet Jondy, Case, who you already know, and Colin, Zack's son." 

"Colin?" Logan questioned. "Zack has a child?" 

Colin smiled proudly at being called Zack's son again, even though he was in the habit of calling his father Jake. 

"Jake never told me he was my father, but I guessed and Marci confirmed it." 

"Marci? Jake?" Logan questioned. 

Max began to believe she was the only X5 not running around changing her name every week. 

"Jondy is Marci, Zack is Jake," Max explained. She turned to her sister. "Now the question is why are you all here? It can't be for a family reunion as much as I'd like that." 

"I just came to find the boys," Jondy told them. "Elizabeth, Colin's mother, called me all upset. She called Charlie too, thinking the boys were together either at my house or his. Then Charlie got upset, it was a mess. I don't know why the boys ran away." 

She looked at the boys for and explanation, Case looked to Colin. 

"We needed to know what happen to Case's mom and my dad. And we knew Max might be the only person with any answers." 

"Boys," Jondy said. "You should have come to me." 

"Do you know where they are?" Colin asked. 

"Months ago I heard from Krit," Jondy said. "Zack was recaptured by Manticore. And--" Jondy paused. She turned to Max. "Wait I heard you were inside too, dead. " 

"I was dead," Max replied reluctant to continue. "He saved me." 

"Zack?" 

Max nodded. "He gave me his heart, he killed himself." 

Jondy fell back on the couch in shock. 

"He did what?!" Colin yelled. 

"Wait there's more--" Max began. 

"My dad's dead," Colin said sadly. 

"What about my mom?" Case asked. "Do they still have her?" 

"No, she's gone Case, forever, I'm sorry. I told your father--" 

Case began to cry and Max tried to comfort him, but he pulled away and ran to Marci. Colin too began to cry, though he tried to keep on a tough face. 

"Please listen, " Max pleaded. "Zack's not gone, he's okay. They saved him, sort of, his body at least." 

"What are you saying Max?" Jondy asked. 

"Manticore has some new technology," She began. "I have to start at the beginning. Or, at least, at the point I found out about you Case." 

Max sat down and began to tell the longest tale she had ever told. She started with finding about Case and went all they way up through her escape from Manticore. Then she skipped a little and talked about finding Zack, his cybernetics, the failed rehabilitation, and the attack on Logan. 

Case stayed curled in Jondy's lap crying. Jondy sat there trying to absorb it all as Max finished and Colin kept up his tough boy look as tears rolled down his cheeks. 

"I want to go to him," Colin said when Max's story was done. "I want to go to my father, now. You know where he is, take me to him!" the boy demanded. 

"I can't do that," Max said. "Colin you have to understand he's not what he use to be." 

"You have no right to hide who he is from him!" Colin yelled. 

"Colin," Jondy stated sharply. "Don't yell at adults. You were taught better than that." 

"I'm sorry Marci," Colin said. 

"Colin, your are the big boy here right?" 

"Yes," Colin replied. 

"Then this is what I want you to do. I want you to calm down, take your little cousin here, and go into the other room." 

Colin nodded at Jondy. 

"Come on Case," Colin said. 

Logan directed the boys into his guest room. 

"I'll get the boys a snack," Asha said going into the kitchen. 

The two women were then alone. 

"I'm sorry, I didn't know he had a son," Max said. 

Jondy got up and walked to the window, looking away from Max. "Do you think he can be rehabilitated?" she asked. 

"You can't be serious. He was brainwashed, he wants to kill Logan. He's too jeal--" she paused. 

"He's what? Jealous of Logan, is that what you were going to say?" 

"He fell in love with me Jondy. When he started getting memories back, he was all confused about what we were to each other." 

"Did you ever think that was your fault?!" Jondy yelled. "I'm sorry, but I know Zack and I know Colin, not Logan. Colin needs the man he calls Jake, he needs his father. He's not going to be happy until they're back together." 

"But Zack is finally happy, he has no burdens." 

"How would you know what makes Zack happy?!" Jondy yelled. Feelings she tried to bury were surfacing unintentionally. She wanted Zack as badly as Colin and she couldn't tell Max the reason why. 

"I need air," Jondy said stepping out. "I'm going to use the pay phone. I have to call their parents. They're in a hotel outside of town." 

Max hadn't meant to take a parent from another child. Zack had a son, a little boy who missed him. Had she made a mistake?   


~~~~~~~~ 

Max stayed the night at Logan's, hoping she and Jondy would get the chance to speak again. However, Jondy only come in to tell them Charlie and Elizabeth would come for their children tomorrow and she went in the room with the children. She only left once to get Case some juice. 

Logan came in the room halfway through the night. 

"How are things with you?" 

"I thought it would get easier, the reality of their lives without me. And maybe I can deal with that, but I can't deal with knowing that we aren't what we use to be." 

"You know this isn't unusual Max," Logan said. "Sometimes people grow up, go to college, and come back thinking friends and home will be the same, but it's not. You lose contact, you move on, and nothing is the same. Sometimes you have to let go of those ideas of the way things were, because they will never be what they were again. Jondy's a stranger." 

"No, she's my sister," Max said. "No matter how much time you spend away from your sister, she's always your sister." 

"If it means that much to you, then you just find her again. And Max, sometimes that means more than finding them physically." 

Max smiled, knowing exactly what he meant. Her first meeting with Zack hadn't gone as smoothly as she imagined, but the night after they lost Tinga it felt like they found each other again. He'd hugged her and it felt good to be with him again. She didn't find Zack in a day, she wouldn't find Jondy in a day. It still hurt however, that someone she was once so close to, was now so close, yet still far away.   
  
  


The next morning, Charlie and Elizabeth showed up. They gave Jondy a thousand thank yous as they examined their sons. She told them no thanks was necessary, she cared about the boys very much. 

Max had been waiting to see Colin's mother. She wondered if Zack had ever been in love with someone who loved him. Had he ever loved this woman? She seemed so...well...ordinary. The only thing that stood out about her was her British accent. It was hard to believe Colin was hers. Something in Colin's eyes revealed a child who was anything but ordinary. He was completely his father's son. 

"You are going to be punished when we get home," Elizabeth said to Colin. "How dare you run away?" 

"Home? I'm not going home, I'm going to my father," the eight year old spat back. 

"You're my son," Elizabeth said. "You're going to do what I say." 

"My dad's all alone and nobody cares. I want to see my father! Dad took care of us mom and now he needs you. Don't pretend he abandoned us. He came to you, he gave you money, I saw it, I know, now he needs us I want to go to him," Colin argued. "None of you have a right to deny me." 

"I told you Colin," Max said. "He doesn't remember you. He's living another life." 

"I'm willing to help him remember me. Unlike you, I'm willing to give up a little for him, I'm willing to help him." 

"I tried to help him and he turned on me. He might try to hurt you." 

"That's not what you said. He didn't want to hurt you, he wanted to hurt that guy," Colin pointed to Logan. "And I don't care about that guy, I care about Jake." 

"Logan's my friend Colin, I can't let anybody hurt him." 

"You mean your boyfriend," the boy spat back. "And obviously your boyfriend is more important than your brother. " 

"Colin," Jondy stated in that sharp mothering tone. "Be quiet." 

"Why? She doesn't even care that she took away everything he ever cared about." 

"I took away his pain Colin," Max told him. "He had a very hard life, he has a lot terrible memories and any one of them could set him off and he could hurt people. And he's happy and he doesn't have--" 

"Do you think," Colin began. "If my father had the choice between keeping his memories and losing them for your so-called happy life, he'd pick your happy life?" 

"Colin," Jondy yelled at him. "Stop now." 

"But Marci," Colin said turning to her. "You told me once, it's our hard times that define us and shape who we are. The easy days are just a reward for dealing with the hard days, because life is hard. Whatever memories Jake has, bad and good, they are who he is. He wants the memories of you of me of Case of Case's mother" he looked at Max. "The memories he doesn't need at the ones of this bitch." 

"Colin!" both Elizabeth and Jondy yelled. 

"What? She's a bitch, that's the only word to describe her." 

"Young man," Logan said stepping up. "You will not disrespect her in my house." 

"Come here," Elizabeth said taking him alone into the nearest room and shutting the door. 

"Max, we need to talk alone," Jondy said. 

Max nodded in agreement and they went out in the hallway.   
  


Alone, the tension between the two women was even thicker. The fact was, Jondy knew the boys better than she did, she'd been there for her nephews, they had no reason to believe a word out of Max's mouth, especially since she had broken the first and last promise she'd made to her nephew. 

"Max, I think Colin and I need to see Zack. I don't agree with how he said it, he was taught better than that, but he's right. Is the price of a lifetime of memories worth what he's gained? Our brother, our Zack, a damn farm hand in the middle of nowhere on someone's Ranch?" 

"It's a good life," Max stated. "Better than most. Don't you see he has a chance at a normal life." 

"Normal life? Max, get over it, we are not normal. Don't you think it's going to be a little weird if Zack discovers he has enhanced site, can jump a 50 foot fence, and has cybernetic parts. What if an accident happens and he finds out half his face looks like the damn terminator? How will you explain it? He can't live a "normal" life and he certainly can't go the rest of his life not knowing who he is." 

"I didn't know what to do with him. I love him, but I couldn't put him ahead of Logan, not this time." 

"Have you ever put him ahead of Logan?" Jondy asked. 

"I'm dedicated to us, our freedom, as dedicated as anyone. But I wouldn't live my life the Zack way anymore than I would the Manticore way." 

"I'm not saying I always agreed with Zack, Zack could be the biggest ass on the planet. But he was just broken, like the rest of us. You can't throw him away because of that Max. You can't just get rid of anyone who doesn't fit into your little fairy tale with Logan." 

"That's not fair. Tinga moved on, she had everything. She had a husband, a child, a life." 

"She never forgot us Max. She never forgot what it meant to be one of us." 

"I didn't either, Zack kept me away for his own selfish reasons!" she yelled. "All I ever wanted was to be with you guys again, but he wouldn't let me have it." 

"And you were mad at him." 

"I didn't know I was taking him away from his child." 

"What about the rest of us, maybe you didn't want him, but maybe we did." 

"I LOVED Zack, but I was just confused about how to show him love and not lead him on. I wanted Zack, I just didn't want him the way he wanted me." 

"It's not about WANT, I NEED him Max! He's my son's father." 

"Your what?" 

"Colin's my son, mine and Zack's. We were young, we made a mistake." 

Now it made sense for Max, that other part of Colin that didn't seem to belong to Elizabeth. It was Jondy. 

"He doesn't know, he thinks Elizabeth is his mother, he never quite figured it out. I guess it's because I stayed away. Zack's never failed him, he watched over him. Me, I ran, I couldn't stand to see my little baby and not hold him." 

"Why did you give him up?" 

"Elizabeth was Zack's girlfriend or something like that, I don't know what they were. She'd gotten pregnant about three months before me, but her baby was stillborn. She was older, she had a family with money, she had a chance at giving my son a future I couldn't." 

"I can't believe you and Zack had a child, he's our brother." 

"We're not the Brady Bunch Max, the rules don't apply to us." 

"Did you love Zack, I mean as more than a brother?" Max asked feeling she was treading on shaky ground. 

"We all love Zack, I never much thought about how. Besides, we didn't exactly have a romance and I wasn't the only X5 female he was ever involved with. I'm the only one who got pregnant as far as I know." 

"And you didn't want the baby?" Max questioned. 

"He was my son, of course I wanted him." 

"Then you should have kept him." 

"You ever heard of reality Max?" 

"If you're talking Zack's reality, that 'Family isn't an Option' deal, no, I try not to hear it." 

"Case is only one half Manticore kid and look what they tried to do to him. Colin has an X5 mother and an X5 father, both of whom were underage when he was born. I was on the street, living from day to day. I had a hard enough time feeding myself, let alone a child. And if they found out, what would they have done to him?" 

"But Zack might be dangerous Jondy, to you and Colin." 

"I have to try. It's my own fault the way things have turned out. I cut Colin out of my life because it was easier for me. He doesn't need me, he wants a father, he has a mother." 

"Your his mother." 

"No, I'm not. No more than the women who carried us were our mothers." Jondy sighed. "Zack told me he was coming here to help you and save Tinga, I wanted to come just so I wouldn't have to face my child. But I promised him I'd take care of him, and I have. It scared both of us what happened to Case and when I saw Case. I knew Elizabeth wasn't enough, Colin needed me to protect him. No one else even knows we have a son." 

"Zane, Krit, Syl, none of them know?" 

"That's the point of a secret. It's on a need to know basis." 

"There's a lot more to this story isn't it?" 

"It's more story than I have time for right now." 

"I don't know what to do to help you Jondy." 

"Give me Zack's location. Let me talk to this Dr. Carr that worked on him. Maybe, just maybe, there's a chance we can still make him whole again. Give Colin the chance that Case doesn't have." 

"Fine," Max replied in defeat. "I'll talk to Logan. This is for Case. I failed him, I could at least do something for Colin that makes up for it." 

"Guilt is a bitch isn't it?" 

"Yeah," Max replied. "And according to Colin so am I." 

Jondy didn't smile, didn't react, she just walked inside. 

Logan agreed to Jondy's terms after a long talk. He arranged a conference with Dr. Carr and Jondy had a long talk with some other professionals and threw herself into research. The boys stayed at Logan's, but both the boys and Jondy spent there time away from Max. Despite being so near, they had never been further apart. So Max stayed out of the way and the only person she had to talk to about any of it was Original Cindy. 

"My sister and brother had a child together," Max stated. "Isn't that twisted?" she asked her friend. 

"To be what you are, you sure got small mind about some things," Original Cindy told her. "I love you gurl, but you have to start thinking outside the box. Your family ain't exactly cookie cutter. Biologically, Zack is no more Jondy's brother than Alec is yours." 

"We didn't grow up with Alec," Max pointed out. "I mean we grew up with his twin, but it's not the same thing. Jondy, Zack, and I washed together, ate together, helped each other through classes and training. We escaped together. For whatever we lack in blood--" 

"But boo, don't you see, blood's the only thing that matters in reproduction. Their feelings about each other have a right to change. Zack will always be your brother, Jondy will always be your sister, in your heart and that's great, but there's no genetic barrier stopping them from going to the next level." 

"How about decent moral structure?" 

"You sound like my bible thumpin' daddy. Homegurl, you have to stop lookin' for the cookie cutter version of American life. You, me, your life, it ain't cookie cutter, you can't put it in that box called "normal". Your life isn't a neat little box and you'll be a lot happier when you realize that." 

"But--" 

"No buts." Original Cindy interjected. "If Jondy can heal your boy, Isn't that a good thing?" 

"I guess." 

"You should know. Or is it true boo? Is Jondy right, are you pushin' away anyone, including your own family, if they don't fit into that little picture you painted of your future with them, with Logan?" 

Max started to say something. 

"Don't answer boo, think about it. Think about Zack, think about you, think about Logan, think about all the things that's gone down with you three. And don't just be Max, be Zack, be Logan, and try to see things from all sides. Even try to think like Jondy and Colin, put your shit aside for a moment and you'll find your truth."   
  


Jondy entered the living room where Elizabeth and Charlie were sitting with their children between them. Somehow she'd become the leader of this little tribe. Her son, his adoptive mother, her nephew, his father. Despite her reluctance at entering her sons life, at some point both Colin and Case became her boys. She loved them equally, but whenever she looked at Colin, there was this ache, this need to take him into her arms and tell him "I'm your mother." Then she had to remind herself he had a mother. She sat down in front of the parents of her boys. 

"I've researched, had a talk with Dr. Carr and some other experts on amnesia and lost memory. The problem the first time may have been too much stimuli to fast. The key here is to take it easy and let him embrace his memories. So, I am going to the ranch where Zack is staying to see him. Elizabeth, I know Colin wants to come and we've agreed we both will accompany him. Charlie, as for you and Case, you are free to go back home. " 

"No," Colin yelled. "I need him. He's family, we can't break apart what family we have." 

"I agree. I want to stay with Colin," Case said quickly. 

"But Case, this means we're changing our whole life again," Charlie told him. "School, your home." 

"That's what you have to do when your one of us," Case stated. "If you start a mission together, you finish it together. Right Colin?" 

Colin smiled. Charlie knew the transgenic pride parade was Colin's doing. He liked that the boys were so close, but the "us" and "them" themes were going overboard. 

"I'm not like other kids," Case continued. "And Colin was the first friend I really ever had, he's my blood brother. Colin and Marci are home to me. You too dad, I love you, but I need them too." 

"It's your call Charlie," Jondy told him. "I love Case, I'd hate to lose him, but I can't promise you an easy road from here." 

He looked at the two boys beside him. No matter how he felt about Zack, he didn't want to separate his son from the best friend he'd ever had. 

"Okay, we're going along." 

"Yeah!" Case exclaimed jumping up. 

"All right!" Colin said joining him. They both ran to Marci and hugged her and then hugged each of their parents. 

"This doesn't mean you runaway again to get what you want," Charlie told his son. 

"Never again," Case replied. 

The two excited boys left the room. 

"I guess this family is catchy," Charlie said. "But I would like Case to realize he has family on my side too." 

"I do too Charlie," Jondy said. "But think about it, he has you, all he has left of his mother is us." 

"I understand, but--" Charlie stopped and sighed. "Elizabeth do you understand what I'm saying?" 

Elizabeth's eyes met Jondy's. 

"A little, yeah. But Zack and I didn't exactly do things the proper way, so my family never quite accepted Colin as my son. Maybe that's why he needs his father so much." 

The room got quiet, but the boys laughter could be heard in the other room.   
  


Before Max knew it, it was all arranged. Even a ride was arranged. She watched from across the street as her family thanked Logan and prepared to get into a van Logan had provided. Max had barely said hello to another sibling and she was leaving her. Reluctantly, she stepped forward. She couldn't let Jondy leave without a proper good-bye. 

"Jondy," Max called. 

Jondy turned toward Max. 

"Stay here," she said to the boys and crossed the street to meet Max. 

"So your leaving," Max said. 

"Yeah, not much reason to stay." 

That statement hurt in ways Max wouldn't say. 

"I'm sorry," Max said. "About the way things have gone down. It's weird, I mean we're family, how could you and Zack have a kid?" 

"Stop thinking so traditionally about family, Max. Mom, dad, kids, little house -- we didn't have that. Even if we had finished growing up together, feelings still could have changed. And I'm not even saying that's the case here." 

"You sound just like my best friend," Max said with a smile. 

"Smart friend. I'll have to meet her sometime." 

Jondy smiled. "Family doesn't mean for us what it means to some other people," Jondy began. "For us it's about what we feel for each other. If I learned anything in giving up my son, it's that sometimes sacrifice is a part of love. Sometimes you give up the thing that you want most, for the person that needs you the most. Am I making any sense?" 

"Yeah, in a way." 

"I need you to know, the fact that I lost you use to keep me up nights. I'm glad to know you're okay and you've found some happiness. I know this hasn't been the happiest reunion, but you're my sister, for life. I love you Max, I always will." 

"I love you too Jondy and Zack and everybody. Even Colin, though he hates me." 

Jondy smiled. "He'll come around." 

They hugged. 

"I hope this works out for you and him Jondy," Max stated. "Good luck with you son and his father." 

"I'm not planning on marrying the guy and taking Colin back," Jondy said as the hug broke. 

"Bye," they said together. 

As Max watched her go, she remembered something else someone told her about family. They said no matter how much how mad you get at family, no matter what problems you have with each other, in the end you still love each other. Today, she believed it.   
  


Colin watched the women's good-byes with resentment in his eyes. 

"I hate Aunt Max," he whispered to Case. "She got to Marci, but she won't get to me." 

"I hate her too," Case said in agreement. 

It was obvious that he was just agreeing with the older boy. Despite the broken promise, he didn't really hate Max. Hate was to strong a word. Disappointed maybe, very hurt, but he didn't hate her. 

Jondy rejoined the group and loaded them into the van. With everyone settled, Jondy climbed in to travel with her charges. It would be the last time, in awhile, that she and Max would see each other.   


The End of X5 Son #1 

Story to be continued in X5 Son #2: Scattered Pictures   



	2. X5 son #2: Scattered Pictures

Title: X5 son # 2: Scattered Pictures  
Author: Empress Vader  
Rating: PG  
Disclaimer: you know, all that stuff about Dark Angel belonging to Cameron,  
  
Eglee, and Fox. No copyright infringement intended, blah blah blah.  
Summary: Continuing the journey started in X5 son #1, Jondy and company  
arrive at the Ranch and begin deprogramming Zack.  
  
Primary Dark Angel Characters: Zack, Jondy, Case, Charlie  
  
Original Characters: Elizabeth, Colin  
  
Other Characters: Buddy, Mary  
  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Zack came to her rescue, as usual. He pulled her out of the shelter just in  
  
time to protect her identity, but Zack was the reason she was in a shelter.  
  
That wasn't true, they shared the blame. She could still hear Zack.  
  
"I'm the oldest," he said "I'm always suppose to be in control."  
  
"You didn't do this alone," she told him, but she could tell he didn't  
believe it.  
  
He'd handed her a stolen car and an address, with little explanation as to  
where the car came from and the destination to which she was now heading.  
As she drove in the stolen car, Jondy wondered if she would be in this  
situation if not for that wonderful gift of her cat DNA -- her heat cycle  
had appeared. She was young and didn't really know how to deal with it yet,  
  
if there was ever a way to deal with it. If normal girls thought puberty  
was a hassle for them, they should try a little cat DNA. There were no  
counselors to talk to about that sort of thing.  
  
There had been a time she blamed Zack for letting it happen. Then she  
realized it wasn't his fault, he hadn't been alone in that room. So she  
blamed herself for losing control. And then it didn't matter. She felt the  
baby move inside of her and knew his life was more precious than anything  
she'd previously done. At this point, she just wanted to protect her child.  
  
She found the shelter. She stole the name of a child who died in infancy,  
Susan Benson, by perusing a graveyard. However, the barcode was still  
there. The barcode would always be there. And the shelter recorded  
identifying marks, so she had to leave it, Susan Benson, and any hopes of  
continuing prenatal care behind. She would always be different and so would  
  
her child, but he at least wouldn't carry the mark of Manticore.  
  
She reached the address on the paper Zack had left in the glove  
compartment. A girl came to the door as she stepped out the car. Must have  
been waiting for her. The girl was about 18.  
  
"Hello," she said in an accent distinctly British. "I'm Elizabeth. You must  
  
be Marci. Jake told me all about you."  
  
"Yeah, I'm Marci," Jondy replied playing along.  
  
"So your the other one he got pregnant? Come in," Elizabeth said.  
  
She came in.  
  
"What is this place?" Jondy asked.  
  
"My parents summer home," Elizabeth replied.  
  
'Summer home' Jondy thought. That meant there were other homes and money to  
  
pay for other homes.  
  
"I know only a little bit about you," Marci said. "Jake says you both made  
a mistake, that up until now and even now you've been like a little sister.  
  
He grew up with you. Says you were drunk when it happened. It's not that I  
don't trust him, but I know sometimes with older guys and young girls--"  
  
"He's not lying," Jondy quickly said. "We didn't intended, we were never,  
like that."  
  
"Oh, it's just that your obviously younger than him, I know he's younger  
than me, but it's different."  
  
Jondy rolled her eyes, she was sick of hearing the about how young she was  
and how sad it was she was in this situation.  
  
"You seem to know more about me than I know about you," Jondy said.  
  
"How much do you know?"  
  
"Well up until you told me I was the 'other one' he got pregnant, nothing."  
  
"Oh," Elizabeth said. "Well, Zack and I had a short little romance. I was  
attracted to him against my better judgment. You got to love that dark  
intensity all wrapped in that little handsome blond surfer boy. Before I  
really got a chance to know him, he was gone. I knew it was better that  
way." Elizabeth sighed and stared down at the floor. "William David Watson  
was born 3 months ago and he died 3 months ago, he was Jake's son. Have you  
  
named you child?"  
  
"I was thinking about Zackary."  
  
"Zack? What a horrid common name," Elizabeth replied.  
  
At that moment, Zack came through the front door. He walked straight to  
Jondy.  
  
"You okay?"  
  
"I'm always okay, is it done?" the girl asked.  
  
"I wouldn't be here if it wasn't taken care of," Zack replied. He finally  
turned to Elizabeth. "Thanks for helping," Zack said.  
  
"No problem," Elizabeth said. "You two have had a hard life at the hands of  
  
your abusive foster parents. I'm glad to help."  
  
"We need to talk alone," Jake said. "So I hope you'll excuse us for a  
minute."  
  
He nodded toward the back door. Jondy followed. She couldn't wait to get  
him alone. They stepped on the porch alone.  
  
"What the hell is going on Zack?!" Jondy yelled. "How many children do you  
have?"  
  
"ONE!!" Zack yelled. "The one you are carrying if it lives."  
  
"He not it. The doctor says your having a son. Or should I say another  
son?"  
  
"The child didn't live. I have only one son."  
  
"It was a he, William."  
  
Zack turned away in silence. It suddenly occurred to her that it might be  
easier if the boy didn't have a name.  
  
"Since your so quick to defense Elizabeth's son's name," Zack began. "I'm  
hoping you'll do something, give her your child."  
  
"What?!" Jondy yelled.  
  
"It's for his own good," Zack argued. "What are we going to do with a baby  
besides get him and ourselves killed."  
  
"I'll protect him," Jondy said. "He's mine."  
  
"He's not a toy Jondy. We can't put him away and pull him out later. This  
is what's best for him."  
  
"What do you know? You're not carrying this child," Jondy argued. "He's  
mine. You think Elizabeth's what's best for him? I would die for him, would  
  
she?" Tears that she tried to resist broke from Jondy's eyes.  
  
"And what if you do die Jondy?" Zack asked. "You die fighting for him and  
they win. They get the child. What do you think they'll do with a child who  
  
has two X5 parents? You think they'll let him live, find him a good home?  
No, he'll become there lab rat. Give him to Elizabeth and it will at least  
buy us time. The world will think he's normal."  
  
"And what if he's not normal?" Jondy asked.  
  
"We'll cross that road when we arrive," Zack said. "But until then, there's  
  
no need to make him the hunted, to make him one of us."  
  
"What if he hates us for giving him up?"  
  
"If he lives, does it matter," Zack said. "Sometimes you have to risk not  
being liked, even losing someone forever, to make things right. If it's one  
  
thing I learned, the world isn't neat or nice. The world doesn't care about  
  
us, if we die, if he dies, the world goes on. It's not going to stop or  
change just for us. So it's all the more important that we do what's best  
for each other, no matter what the price."  
  
Zack walked up to Jondy and put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry that  
it's come down to this."  
  
"No you're not," Jondy replied. The tears fell even more quickly down her  
cheeks. "You're not sorry at all. You don't want to be a father."  
  
"It doesn't matter what I want!" Zack yelled. "It doesn't matter what you  
want. Don't you see that?"  
  
Jondy turned away. She wanted to hate Zack, argue with him, but he was  
right and she knew it. What would she do with a baby? She lived from day to  
  
day never knowing where her next meal was coming from, some nights she  
didn't even have a place to lay her head -- not that she always needed one.  
  
Settling down was a huge risk, one she couldn't take. And settling down  
with Zack to raise a baby just wasn't going to happen in this Universe. And  
  
it wasn't that Zack was irresponsible, if anything he tried to hard, so she  
  
couldn't blame him. The problem with Zack was that for all his common  
sense, he didn't understand what he was asking of her. He didn't understand  
  
the bond she had with this child already.  
  
"Jondy say something," Zack said.  
  
"I love him," Jondy said. "But you wouldn't understand that."  
  
Zack scoffed. "Fine, if that's what you want to believe. But if you love  
him, give him a chance." Zack waited a minute for a response. "Please  
Jondy."  
  
It was the first time she could remember Zack saying please. It wasn't an  
order for once.  
  
"She can have him," Jondy conceded.  
  
Zack approached her, but she ducked away and walked in the house.  
  
  
~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*  
8 years later  
  
Jondy could see the excitement in her son's eyes as they approached the  
ranch. Her son, she didn't know when she allowed herself to think of him  
that way. Maybe she honestly had ALWAYS thought of him that way. He hadn't  
even suspected his mother could be someone else and she'd stayed away for  
that very reason. He had a mother that wasn't her.  
  
She couldn't help being proud of him though. His leadership qualities. She  
was most impressed by the bond between her son and Tinga's son. They were  
like true brothers. She loved seeing them together, it reminded her of the  
good times she had had with the others as a child, despite the nightmare  
that was her childhood.  
  
Charlie wasn't too happy to learn Colin was Zack's son. It was He had never  
  
been to fond of Zack, but he saw that his son was in need of a friend who  
understood him and Colin was that child. Elizabeth was hoping for the best  
out of this trip. Jondy wanted to thank Elizabeth for the job she did with  
Colin, but she never quite got the words out. A long time ago, thier had  
been a silient annamosity. Between the two of them, they'd barely said a  
word about Colin's biological heritage. It was easier just to see Colin as  
Elizabeth's son after that moment of giving him up. Since Jondy had stepped  
  
back into there lives, she and Jondy had found a way to get along, because  
they both loved Colin. And Elizabeth was no longer the spoiled rich girl  
she had been when she met Zack nine years ago.  
  
Jondy pulled the boys to the side. She had almost forgotten to inform them  
of one small detail.  
  
"Case, Colin, I know before now I pretty much let you use Jake, Penny, and  
Marci because those are the names you knew, but it's important to use real  
names now, we don't want to confuse Zack. He's Zack, I'm Jondy, your mother  
  
is Tinga."  
  
"Okay," the boys said together.  
  
"But, I've always called him Jake," Colin said. "Won't it be easier for him  
  
to remember me if I use that name."  
  
"It's not about Jake remembering you," Jondy told him. "it's about him  
remembering himself. You understand?"  
  
"Okay Marci," Colin said. "I mean Jondy. Thanks by the way."  
  
"For what?"  
  
'For helping me get my father back. For keeping me and Case together."  
  
"That wasn't all my doing."  
  
"You did enough," Colin replied. He threw his arms around her and hugged  
her. She saw Elizabeth watching them with a sad look in her eyes. There was  
  
a time she resented this woman for taking her child, but that time had long  
  
since passed.  
  
Jondy caught sight of a woman approaching them. It was there contact they  
supposed.  
  
"Hi, I'm Mary, Buddy's sister," the woman said. "And I assume you're here  
to see Adam."  
  
"Yes," Jondy said. "I'm Jondy. That's his son Colin, his nephew, Case,  
Case's father, Charlie, and Elizabeth." She had never had a problem saying  
it before, but somehow she couldn't get out that Elizabeth was Colin's  
mother. Now that she had said the truth out loud to Max, it became even  
harder to repeat the lie.  
  
"Is Colin yours?" the woman asked Jondy.  
  
"No, he belongs to me," Elizabeth replied.  
  
"Well, I guess it's time to go to the ranch. He doesn't know you're  
coming." Mary said. She wasn't to happy about their arrival, that much was  
apparent. "Are you sure you want to do this? Adam's very sweet and everyone  
  
loves him. There's no need to disrupt his life."  
  
"But he's not Adam," Jondy said. "He's Zack and he needs to know that, for  
his own good. He can't live a lie. And his son needs him."  
  
"Maybe we could --" Mary began.  
  
"No more lies," Jondy said.  
  
"Zack," Mary said just to hear herself say it. "I'm so use to calling him  
Adam, don't know how I'll adjust."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Adam was a bit apprehensive about being summoned into Buddy's office. Had  
he done something wrong? His best guess was that there was trouble with the  
  
last delivery, but it had been checked and double checked. Despite Mr.  
Rubin's complaints, he had not been short changed. And Roke said Mr. Rubin  
ALWAYS claimed he was short changed.  
  
Adam opened the door to the office and was surprised to see Buddy wasn't  
waiting alone. There were 5 people in the room, three adults, two male  
children. The youngest boy obviousLY belonged to the one adult male in the  
room. Body language made that clear. The older boy was sitting calmly  
between the two women. None of them had heard him enter. Suddenly the older  
  
boy turned as if he sensed him.  
  
"Dad!" the boy yelled as he got up, knocking down the chair he was sitting  
in.  
  
The rest of the group turned to look at him as the boy jumped out of his  
seat. He ran toward Adam and Adam caught him.  
  
"I thought I would never see you again," the child said hugging him  
tightly.  
  
He looked down at the child. He didn't know him, but he did know him. His  
eyes, that face. Then he realized he was seeing himself. He had a son? Why  
didn't anyone mention him before?  
  
"Your my son?" Adam asked him.  
  
"It's me Zack, it's Colin," Colin said.  
  
"Zack," he questioned. "I'm not Zack"  
  
"Colin," the younger woman said coming over to them. "Give him some space."  
  
Adam looked at the woman and smiled. One of those boyish smiles that made  
him look just like Colin.  
  
"I know you," he said to the woman.  
  
"Yes, you do. I'm Jondy," she said. "We grew up together."  
  
"That's a pretty name," Zack said. "It's different."  
  
Jondy smiled unintentionally. A compliment from Zack was highly unlikely.  
Except he wasn't Zack, right now he believed he was Adam. He'd begun a  
whole new life as Adam. Zack touched her face. He was gentle, his touch  
different. She was looking at Zack, but it wasn't Zack.  
  
"Jondy," Elizabeth said, pulling her attention away from Zack.  
  
The first thing Jondy noticed was a very sad Case. He'd sat there and  
watched Colin reclaim his father, a chance he would never have with his  
mother. He looked up as Zack approached him.  
  
"And you are?" he asked the boy.  
  
"Case," he stated. "And this is my dad."  
  
"Charlie," Charlie said introducing himself.  
  
Zack put out a hand. Charlie was a little reluctant to shake the hand that  
had once been around his neck, but he shook anyway.  
  
"Case is your nephew," Colin said. "Don't you remember him?"  
  
"Colin, he isn't going to remember in a day," Jondy told the boy. He had  
obviously believed seeing them would be enough to trigger all memories.  
  
"And you are?" he asked Elizabeth.  
  
"Elizabeth," she said. "I'm your son's mother."  
  
Jondy noticed she didn't say Colin's mother. She didn't know when an issue  
that had once been so black and white, became gray. Maybe it always was  
gray.  
  
"I know you, I don't remember you, but I know you," Adam said. "Why are  
calling me Zack?"  
  
"It's your name, but you've forgotten it. We're here to help you remember,"  
  
Jondy said. "You're not Adam Tompson, you never were."  
  
Adam looked at Jondy, perplexed. He had a license, papers, a social  
security number and all of them said Adam Tompson.  
  
"Zack can I ask you a question?" Jondy said.  
  
"What?" he replied.  
  
"What's the square root of 24336?"  
  
"156, why?"  
  
"How many people do you think know that off the top of their head?"  
  
He thought about it a minute. "Are you saying I'm some kind of prodigy?"  
  
"More than that," Jondy said. "But I don't want to force anything on you.  
  
  
This is enough for now."  
  
"You confuse me and it's enough?!" he asked in a tone reminiscent of the  
old Zack.  
  
"It will come, in it's own time," Jondy said. "Trust me."  
  
He looked at her, studied her face, and somewhere inside trusting her felt  
right.  
  
"Okay," he replied.  
  
  
  
When the entourage first arrived, Mary and Buddy were a little nervous and  
jumpy around them. That changed by dinner, which they ate with Mary and  
Buddy in the main house. "Adam" usually ate with the seven or so other  
hired hands. Dinner eased the tension with Mary and Buddy who were quickly  
amused by the children going on and on with little stories from school and  
their adventures in growing up. There adult counterparts said very little,  
including Adam who picked at his food instead of eating it.  
  
Jondy watched him from across the table hardly believing that he was Zack.  
It was amazing how a person's behavior could make them seem so different.  
Zack always seemed like he was running on his last bit of energy, plotting,  
  
planning, at the end of his rope. Adam seemed much more mellow, even as he  
sat there confused. He studied the people at the table, Elizabeth, Charlie,  
  
Case, Colin, herself -- willing a memory to appear, she guessed.  
  
"Not hungry Adam?" Mary asked. "You're usually a hardy eater."  
  
"Am I?" he asked Jondy. "Is Zack a hardy eater?"  
  
The table activity froze waiting for a reply from Jondy.  
  
"Yes Zack," Jondy replied. "Most of us are."  
  
"Us?" he questioned. "Who's us?"  
  
Jondy didn't know what explanation to make at this moment.  
  
"Dad, you're an X--" Colin began.  
  
"Stop," Jondy quickly yelled.  
  
"I'm an ex? Ex what? Ex con?"  
  
"No," Jondy replied. In a way he was, he had been arrested before and  
escaped. "For now, let's say you're ex-military."  
  
"Did I go AWOL?"  
  
"In a way," Jondy replied. "But you were in the right."  
  
"Can you give me a straight answer?"  
  
"I don't want to put to much on you. I want to let it come to you."  
  
"You came to me," he yelled. "To give me my memories so talk to me."  
  
"I don't want to give you my memories, I want you to get your own back."  
  
He got up from the table and walked out the door. These kind of reactions  
actually gave her hope that Zack was still in there somewhere. Colin  
started to get up and follow him.  
  
"No," Jondy told him. "He needs space, let him have it. We're not going to  
get him back in a day."  
  
The meal was finished in silence.  
  
Night came before they knew it. Mary volunteered to settle the boys in,  
showing them where they would be sleeping. Charlie and Buddy bonded over  
evening drinks. That left Jondy and Elizabeth sitting alone in silence on  
the porch.  
  
"How long are you going to play this game?" Elizabeth suddenly asked.  
  
"What game?" Jondy asked.  
  
"How long are we going to pretend Colin belongs to me?" Elizabeth asked.  
"He's not my son, he's yours, it's becoming more and more clear everyday  
that he needs more than me. I love him to death, but he wasn't complete  
until you came back into his life. For a long time I didn't want to admit  
it, but now you're all back together. Yourself, Zack, and--"  
  
"We're not back together. He's your son," Jondy stated. "I gave birth to  
him, that's all."  
  
"He knows he's special now," Elizabeth said. "He just doesn't know how  
special."  
  
"All children are special."  
  
"Not like him and you know exactly what I'm talking about," Elizabeth said.  
  
"What if Zack remembers that you gave birth to him, not me."  
  
"I've thought about that," Jondy said. "I don't want to lie to him. He's  
been lied to and deceived enough, but it's hard enough for me to admit what  
  
happened to myself, how could I explain it to Colin?"  
  
"You'll find the words," Elizabeth said.  
  
"I don't want to ruin him," Jondy said. "I'm glad you raised him. I'm glad  
he only sees the positives of whatever he inherited from me and his father.  
  
They were a wonderful surprise for him, instead of a burden. I'm still  
sorry I missed all of his first, that I wasn't there to patch his knees and  
  
read him bed time stories, but his survial was worth me losing him. I  
didn't want him to die because of me. I would die for him as Tinga did for  
Case, but she almost died for nothing. If it wasn't for Zack and my sister,  
  
they'd have Case anyway. I don't want that to ever happen to Colin." Jondy  
tried to fight the tear falling down her cheek. "And Zack and I were never  
together, some days I almost hate Zack for ever giving me this burden. I  
don't want to blame him, I know it's not just his fault, but in my mind I  
still blame him sometimes. "  
  
"Let's be honest Jondy," Elizabeth said. "The problem is you love him too  
much."  
  
"We all love Zack," Jondy said. "He's the reason we're out here and not in  
there."  
  
"I'm jot talking about the 'we' that makes up your little group," Elizabeth  
  
said. "We he walked in, your eyes lit up like Colin's. When he touched you  
you could have melted right there."  
  
"He's my brother," Jondy said.  
  
"No, the second he became the father of your child, you're relationship  
changed. He's your son's father."  
  
"I don't have a son Elizabeth. You have a son, we're not going to change  
it."  
  
Elizabeth started to say something more, but then she saw someone  
approaching from a distance.  
  
"Zack," Jondy said.  
  
"I better go tuck Colin in," Elizabeth said getting up a going inside. "I  
don't believe I'll have the opportunity much longer."  
  
Jondy started to reply, but realized Zack was close and Elizabeth had  
already disappeared. Zack sat down beside her and looked up at the sky. He  
seemed to be studying the stars.  
  
"Jondy," Zack said. "Were we abused?"  
  
"Why do you ask?"  
  
"I remember you -- just a flash of your face -- you were younger -- but I  
know it's you," Zack said. "You were sad, you were hurt. I hear things  
sometimes in my head, like memories. I can't hold on to the images. I  
remember yelling, the sound of stomping or marching. And I feel this  
sadness and lost. Today I got an image, an image of little children dressed  
  
like soldiers as soon as you said ex-military."  
  
Jondy smiled, he was remembering.  
  
"To answer your questioned," Jondy began. "Yes we were abused. Do you know  
about the mark on the back of your neck?"  
  
"The tattoo?" Zack asked perplexed. "Mary said I was drunk one night and--"  
  
"No, that's not true. You were born with that mark or should I say designed  
  
with it. You didn't chose the military, you were born into it, a secret  
military of genetically engineered soldiers."  
  
"What?" He said shocked. "You have to be kidding."  
  
"Haven't you ever done something you couldn't explain?"  
  
"This can't--you can't--we can't be"  
  
"We escaped from our captors, our creators. We ran, you were our leader  
that night, you were our leader most of the time when we were little."  
  
"So there are more, more barcode people like us?"  
  
"Originally, you helped 12 of us. There are more out there now, confused,  
trying to figure the world out as we did. Some as young as we were, some  
older, some barely resembling anything human, but sentient beings just the  
same."  
  
He looked horrified by what he was hearing.  
  
"I'm sorry you were lied to and came to believe things that aren't true,"  
Jondy said. "It was probably easier not to know. I will answer any question  
  
you ask me from this moment on. However, I don't want to give you memories,  
  
I want you to find them on your own, it's important."  
  
He nodded.  
  
"Jondy?" he said  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"If I had a nephew, that means I have a sister, where is she?"  
  
"Case's mother is gone, forever. Her name was Tinga," Jondy replied softly.  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
"Was she my only sister?"  
  
"No," Jondy replied.  
  
She didn't have a further explanation of her family at the moment. The  
puzzled look on his face told Jondy he was struggling for memories. Then  
the effort faded.  
  
"Any more questions?" Jondy asked.  
  
"Only one," Zack replied. "Will you sit here with me tonight?"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I like being close to you Jondy," Zack said. "We were close before?"  
  
"We all were," Jondy replied.  
  
He just sat in silence staring up at the sky. Jondy didn't know how to  
measure this man against the man she knew as Zack. Had he completely  
rewritten himself as Adam or was this just a buried part of Zack. They sat  
together all night, satisfied being together again.  
  
^^^^^^^^  
About 8 years Ago  
  
Zack heard the cries of his son a sighed a sigh of relief, nothing had been  
  
more devastating than looking at the lifeless small body of a baby. He  
hadn't  
asked for this baby, but he willed him to live. However the tears of the  
baby only made Jondy cry as she turned her face toward the pillow, refusing  
  
contact with the child. The midwife took the baby and cleaned him and  
wrapped him, then offered again to allow his mother to see and hold him,  
but she continually refused.  
  
Zack took his son from the midwife and told her to go. As the midwife went  
to see Elizabeth for payment, he examined his son's fingers, his toes, and  
marveled at the amazing little being he was. He'd never been so afraid,  
never been so responsible for something so helpless. Even his siblings had  
always been able to hold thier own, but this baby was so delicate. The  
once noisey baby lay there in silence sleeping.  
  
He was a father! Zack tried to dismiss the overwhelming truth of it, but  
he couldn't. He had created this life, he had made something real,  
something he had to protect. He didn't regret his decision,  
he couldn't have a family, but he could protect his son.  
  
"Jondy," Zack said. "Please look at him."  
  
"Take him to his mother," she said through gritted teeth.  
  
"You are his mother," Zack said.  
  
"No, I'm not," she replied. "If you're going to take him, take him."  
  
If? He realized then she was giving him a chance to change his mind. He  
couldn't change his mind. He wanted her to see him, to see the life she was  
  
saving, to understand what he understood. She wasn't giving him up, she was  
  
giving him a chance.  
  
"Take him away!!" she yelled.  
  
"Do you want to at least name him?" Zack asked.  
  
"What's the point?" Jondy replied.  
  
Zack left the room with the crying baby. Elizabeth met him outside the  
room.  
  
"He's so handsome," Elizabeth said as she looked at him the first time.  
"Just like you Jake. Just like William."  
  
"He's like her," Zack said. "Like his mother, strong, a survivor."  
  
"What's his name?" Elizabeth asked.  
  
"He doesn't have one," Zack said. He kissed the little boy's forehead and  
reluctantly handed him over. "You name him."  
  
"His mother should name him."  
  
"His mother doesn't even want to look at him," Zack told her. "You're his  
mother now, stop thinking anything else."  
  
"I may not be worldly Jake, but I'm not stupid," Elizabeth said. "There's  
more to you and Marci than you're telling me Jake. What are you running  
away  
from?"  
  
"Let's just say, family isn't an option for us." Zack took a final look at  
his son. "I'll be gone by morning. Jondy will leave when she's ready.  
Forget you knew us."  
  
Zack went back into the room where Jondy had given his child life and saw  
her asleep. She was worn out, really asleep after the emotionally and  
physically  
stressful birth.  
  
"I had to do it Jondy. For you, for him, for all of us," he whispered. "I'm  
  
sorry."  
  
He stared at her for a moment and wanted to kiss her forehead. He resisted  
the urge to do so. He had to get away, far away from here today.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~~*  
  
It had been eight years since that day and now they were all pushed back  
together on this ranch. Elizabeth sat by Colin's bedside with that day  
fresh in her mind. She'd understood so little about the events that had  
pulled her into this family circle. Case and Colin laid on opposite ends of  
  
the bedroom, both the second generation creations of whatever there parents  
  
were. She sometimes called them "Human Plus".  
  
'I guess it's just you and me little one,' she'd said to Colin in there  
first moment alone.  
  
"Jake" and "Marci" were gone before she knew it and in the beginning there  
was only joy. She had plenty of baby clothes bought for William and she  
gave them to Colin ( a name she'd chosen because from a long lost cousin  
who  
bore the name). She'd slipped and called him Wlliam a few times. In the  
beginning it was always about William, if William would have crawled,  
spoke, began to say mommy at the same time Colin did and then Colin outgrew  
  
Williams clothes. Colin became a boy, not a baby and she began to see she  
was wrong to try to make him her replacement son. Colin was Colin,  
William's brother who lived, not his replacement.  
  
They were okay until she ran out of money. Unhappy with the illegitimate  
pregnancy she had been cut off from her family. What cash she did have  
access to began to run out. At the end of the line with a small child, Jake  
  
appeared like a guardian angel and helped her get by. She got a job, but it  
  
was the money Jake supplied on his visits, in which contact with the child  
was never intended, that helped them survive the rough days. Colin had  
always understood his connection to Jake, that he was more.  
  
Colin was six when she got full disclosure. Zack came to her with train  
tickets and ordered her to move. She didn't understand and he refused to  
explain until she refused to move. He told her he would tell her if she  
left with him right then and he held true to his word. It was hard looking  
at Colin after that, he was suddenly more than the accidental child of two  
reckless teenagers. Every advancement he made ahead of schedule caught her  
eye. She loved him to much to leave him, no matter how dangerous it was to  
become a part of the X-circle, so she dealt with it, kept a low profile,  
lived by Jake/Zack rules.  
  
Then Zack came to her saying there was another child like Colin, or at  
least half like him. A child who had almost been taken. He told her that he  
  
need to be more secure about there safety, that an X5 who would watch over  
them both in the new location. She was surprised to find out that guardian  
was Marci, who explained that her true name was Jondy. She had established  
herself as a self defense instructor at a local community center and  
Elizabeth sent Colin to her because it was time and she knew it. And as the  
  
bright boy always did, he slowly tracked down the truth, the connection,  
the reason he and this other boy had been pushed together. But he hadn't  
figured out the final piece. Still, Elizabeth felt it would come and come  
soon. She accepted she would lose him ever since Marci reappeared in her  
life. She'd lost a son, so she wouldn't steal one from his true mother. It  
was  
enough to have shared a part of his life.  
  
*~*~**~*~*~*~*  
  
The next night found Jondy and Zack together again on the porch. It had  
been a long day, Zack had spent most of it with Colin just trying to  
remember himself. Colin had slipped and called him Jake a few times and  
when the boy explained why he'd called him that name Zack wondered, if Zack  
  
was indeed his real name, why he would tell his son otherwise?  
  
He'd spent time with Colin's mother. Elizabeth seemed more like a good  
friend than a passionate love of the past. Perhaps that was why they hadn't  
  
worked out. Jondy felt different, she felt like she belonged by his side  
whenever she was there. She was obviously reluctant to talk about them  
personally so he didn't say such things in front of her. There was a  
connection, he just didn't know what it was yet.  
  
"You tired?" Jondy asked.  
  
"Not anymore. When I first got here, seemed like I wanted to sleep forever.  
  
Then one day, I didn't need sleep. Days were easy, not stressful, but I  
slept because other's did. Then I stopped, I had all the sleep I needed for  
  
awhile."  
  
"Max and I were lucky. We can pretty much give up sleeping and be okay,"  
Jondy said. "I think I was always a bit more of an insomniac."  
  
"Max?" Zack asked. "She's one of us."  
  
"Don't think about her to much. I don't really think your ready to deal  
with that part of your memory yet. "  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Let's just say issues with her landed you here."  
  
Zack looked at her confused, wanting to ask more, not sure if he'd get  
a straight answer.  
  
"Let's try an exercise," Jondy said.  
  
"Okay," Zack agreed.  
  
"Manticore taught us to live by numbers, maybe it will help. I'm going to  
say a set of numbers and I want you to say the first name that comes to  
mind when I'm finished. If no name comes to mind, say so."  
  
"Okay"  
  
"330417291599"  
  
"Zack," he replied quickly. "That's me?"  
  
She nodded. "Right, this might work."  
  
She lifted up her hair and turned to show him her barcode. He stared at it  
for awhile then reached up to run a hand across it as he recited her  
numbers. His touch sent a shiver up her spine.  
  
"Jondy," he said almost in a whisper as the numbers were done. She nearly  
melted.  
  
His touch was so gentle now, he was so gentle now. She shook thoughts of  
him from her mind, she didn't have time to act like a stupid school girl.  
She dropped her hair back down and turned away from his hand. She then  
focused on reciting another set of numbers.  
  
"Jack," he quickly replied. The he saw a flash, like a snapshot. "Something  
  
happened to Jack."  
  
She nodded. "Another day we'll talk about it." She recited another set of  
numbers.  
  
"Syl"  
  
Another set.  
  
"Krit"  
  
Jondy spent most of the night going through every set of X-series numbers  
she could remember, everyone except Max -- the memory she was afraid to  
trigger. The numbers sparked names easily, but only seemed to create a  
snapshot  
of memory sometimes. After she was out of barcode number sequences, he  
asked  
her for details on some of the flashes he had seen. She willingly explained  
  
with basic facts. They spent the night talking and before they knew it, it  
was morning again.  
  
They came to spend a thousand nights like this, playing memory recall,  
talking,  
sometimes just sitting quietly together.  
  
  
  
As life sometimes does, it became routine on the Ranch. During the day Zack  
worked.  
Jondy tutored the boys -- continued the martial arts training (she even  
sometimes  
helped with labor), Elizabeth took care of the boys basic essentials,  
helped out  
with household chores. Since he was there, Charlie also took up Ranch work.  
  
Before they knew it, they became a part of the Ranch and the little  
community that made it up. Outside the ranch, most people still called Zack  
  
Adam and when they asked why the others called him Zack, they replied that  
it was his middle name (Adam Zackary).  
  
How it happened, neither Jondy or Elizabeth knew, but Charlie and Zack were  
  
invited on a fishing trip with there sons and came back friends. Charlie  
had never been fond of the man who could (and nearly did) crush his throat  
with one hand, but the father-son bonding changed all that. It made it  
easier on the boys. They began to act like one family unit. They had there  
disagreements, but life became easy and settled.  
  
Too easy, too settled. Jondy didn't want to feel at home and she didn't  
want to get to comfortable with the idea of herself and Colin living in the  
  
same home as immediate family. Where the months went, Jondy didn't know.  
Jondy was just waiting for the disaster that was sure to come.  
  
Her nightly talks with Zack had made him come to some very basic  
understandings about who he was and where he came from. She almost forgot  
sometimes he was still in the process of remembering until he greeted her  
with a "who" or "what". He had his moments of both pain and laughs as he  
regained memories. Yet he seemed to keep Adam's easy approach to life and  
she was drawn to it even as she fought it. And as much as she loved the  
"new Zack", she couldn't help wanting the "old Zack" back. She wanted to  
know he was whole again.  
  
Five months had passed when SHE called. Jondy was teaching a new  
combination  
to the boys when Mary called her over to the main house. She didn't know  
who would call her here, so her first reaction was fear. When she heard  
Max's voice it changed to panic.  
  
"Jondy, is that you?" her sisters voice said over the phone. "I would have  
called before, but I didn't."  
  
"Why are you calling now?"  
  
"I want to know how he is, how you are. I'm thinking of coming down to--"  
  
"Don't," Jondy said. "He doesn't need the stress."  
  
"But Jondy--"  
  
"Stay away Max!!" Jondy yelled.  
  
"He's my brother too."  
  
"That didn't matter when he was broken," Jondy said. "Colin has his father,  
  
just like he wanted. Me and him are still working through things. It's not  
the right time. The last thing he needs is to see is you. I can't let you  
be the reason we lose him again. Good-bye Max."  
  
Jondy hung up the phone and turned to see Zack standing there.  
  
"That was Max?" he asked.  
  
"Yes," she said.  
  
"You should have let me speak to her."  
  
"You and Max have bad history."  
  
"You were protecting me?" Zack asked confused.  
  
"When you two get together bad things happen," Jondy said.  
  
"How together were Max and me?"  
  
"Why?" Jondy asked. "Do you remember something?"  
  
"No," Zack said.  
  
"Well, I remembering something," Jondy said. "You promised the boys pizza."  
  
"I did," he replied, obviously allowing her to get away with changing the  
subject.  
  
He left. Jondy waited twenty minutes, walked out the door, and started  
running. She needed to run for a little while.  
  
When Jondy returned, night had come. She expected to find Zack in his usual  
  
spot, when he wasn't there she figured he decided to pursue sleep. She went  
  
inside to check on the boys, expecting to find them sleep in there room.  
Instead, they were both sitting up in there bed listening to Zack. She  
stood in the door, silently watching the interaction between the children  
and the man.  
  
"And what do you remember about Jondy?" Colin asked. "Was she a good  
solider?"  
  
"I remember Jondy as always being into something," Zack said with a smile.  
"I remember once she broke out, she was only four. She didn't break out of  
Manticore, just our room. She found a way to jimmy the lock open in the  
barracks. She didn't do it in one night, but she just fooled with it and  
fooled with it, until she got it open. I don't know what she got into out  
there, but  
for over a year they didn't even know she could get out at night. When they  
  
found out, they got more sophisticated locks. Jondy was kind of determined  
like that, she'd work on something until she got it to work like she  
wanted, at least that's what I remember. You're kind of like that Colin."  
  
"Aunt Jondy is great, I wish I was like her."  
  
"You look up to her?" Zack asked  
  
"Almost as much as I do you," the boy replied.  
  
"Me too," Case said.  
  
"I think she's a good person to look up too," Zack told them. "I don't know  
  
about me."  
  
"Dad, you're a hero," Colin said. "You saved them We know the story."  
  
Zack knew they only knew a fairy tale version of the story.  
  
"If you say so, goodnight boys," Zack said tucking them in.  
  
"Goodnight Dad"  
  
"Goodnight Zack"  
  
"Night boys," a voice said from the doorway, they turned to see Jondy.  
  
"Night Jondy," the boys said together.  
  
Zack turned out the light and joined Jondy in the doorway.  
  
"We were planning Case's birthday earlier," Zack told her.  
  
"That's right, it's Friday," Jondy said. "Do you really remember me and the  
  
door?"  
  
"One of my happier memories," he said. "Do you hate me?"  
  
"Why would you ask that?"  
  
"I remember yelling at you for it, even forcing you to leave the door alone  
  
once."  
  
"You were afraid of me getting caught, hurt," Jondy said. "We were kids,  
living like brother and sister. Brothers and sisters sometimes fight,  
disagree. It's not enough to hate you."  
  
"Thank you," he said.  
  
"For what?" Jondy asked.  
  
"Bringing my son to me and helping me," Zack said. "I always had questions  
I just thought there were no answers."  
  
"You don't have to thank me. I would do anything for Colin."  
  
"Is he the only reason you came?"  
  
"Of course not," Jondy replied.  
  
He touched her cheek, making her shiver with his caress. He tilted her chin  
  
and kissed her softly, testing her reaction. He was giving her a chance to  
back away, but a silent fire had been building between them. She didn't  
want to run from it or him, she was sick of running. The moment was right,  
why fight it?  
  
  
  
About 6 years ago  
  
As Jondy came to in the office, she tried to remember what truck hit her.  
Then she remembered that it wasn't a truck that hit her, it was a girl, a  
teenage girl who had to have been her age or younger. But this wasn't just  
any girl, it was a girl that could take out an X5. A few hours ago the plan  
  
had been simple, break in, grab some pocket money, and go. Now here she  
was, restrained and sitting in a chair.  
  
The asian girl stepped into the room with an older man. He looked over  
Jondy.  
  
"Who are you?" the man asked.  
  
"That's none of your concern," Jondy replied.  
  
"What do you want?"  
  
"Dinner"  
  
"Is that why you are here?" he asked.  
  
"Pretty much," Jondy replied.  
  
"So you steal to eat. What if I offered you the opportunity to eat without  
stealing?"  
  
"Dad!" the girl said.  
  
"Jade, if this is truly her goal we can help."  
  
"Yes sir," Jade conceded reluctantly.  
  
"How do I know you're not setting me up?"  
  
"You don't know," he replied. "You can only trust your feelings about me.  
If you feel my intentions are bad, you are free to leave."  
  
She looked at Jade. Nothing stood out about her, how had this seemingly  
average girl taken down an X5? Then again, she supposed even she could look  
  
average. She had to know the secret.  
  
"Okay," Jondy said. "What do I have to do to eat?"  
  
The man's name was Mr. Yen, but he was better known as Master Yen. Jondy  
refused to call him Master, it sounded submissive and she would never go  
back to that. She washed uniforms and dishes and did some general cleaning  
for cash plus three meals a day. It was a secure gig with plenty of free  
time. She spent a lot of time watching Yen's various classes. In the  
morning he had a set of serious martial artist, in the evening, there  
was a class mostly for children, and on Saturday a women's self defense  
course.  
  
There were various times throughout the week when he and his teenage  
daughter worked together. The girl's whole life and focus seemed to be  
school and training. Why anyone would chose not to have "free time"  
scheduled, she didn't know. Even when she wasn't working one on one with  
her father, she was practicing or studying.  
  
Jondy still sought to understand what the girl knew that could take down an  
  
X5. So she watched her, watched Jade and Yen together. The studied  
combinations and imitated them on her free time, but she learned nothing so  
  
she went to Master Yen.  
  
"Mr. Yen sir," she began. "I want to know what Jade knows."  
  
"Is that a command?"  
  
"No sir," Jondy replied. "I'm sorry if that's the way it sounded, sir. It  
was meant as a request sir."  
  
"Sir this, sir that, I sense you've spent some time in Military school."  
  
Jondy nearly laughed at that. "I have sir." Seeing as he was referred to as  
  
"Master" by his students, "sir" seemed like the right words to use to show  
respect.  
  
"That would explain it. Marci, the difference between myself and your  
Military School is that I don't see myself as your superior, but your  
equal."  
  
"But they call you Master," Jondy said.  
  
"That is only because I have mastered things they have not. But every  
student teaches me as I teach them." Yen leaned back in his seat. "I sense  
you are a special one Marci, but I fear there is nothing I can teach you.  
You are much like your Military, to much about calculation and physical  
power.  
What you lack isn't in strength or in here," Yen pointed to his head. "It's  
in  
here," Yen continued pointing to his heart. "I sense there are things here  
you won't touch in that heart of yours."  
  
"I'm willing to try," Jondy replied.  
  
"You were taught to fight to win. To understand what I teach Jade, you  
would have to let go of that."  
  
"Isn't the point of fighting to win?"  
  
"The point is not to fight." He saw the confusion on Jondy's face. "When I  
Jade found you stealing, I watched you fight her. Your goal was to be  
stronger than her, her goal was to stop you. Jade thinks simply of the most  
  
effective way to end the fight, not hurt her opponent. I have watched you  
study and copy combinations, I have no doubt you could learn them all.  
What I question, is your ability to get at the heart of it."  
  
"Is it enough that I'm willing to try?" Jondy asked.  
  
"Maybe," Yen replied. "Meet Jade and I in the morning out back."  
  
"Thank you Master Yen," Jondy replied and bowed as she had seen others do  
before.  
  
Jondy didn't know if she bought into what Yen said about the reason Jade  
defeated her, but she played along. In the morning, she was shocked to find  
  
that her first lesson had nothing to do with fighting and everything to do  
with Meditation. At first it seemed like a silly practice and she played  
along only to get to the action. She worked during the day and trained with  
  
Yen and Jade in the evenings. Pretty soon, meditation became a perfect  
method of relaxing and coming to peace within herself. But sometimes the  
quiet of it was difficult, because she thought about all things she wanted  
to forget. Still, she worked hard day after day.  
  
Working alongside Jade, a friendship was sparked between the two girls. It  
helped her to pretend she was a normal teenager if she dragged Jade out  
every once in awhile to sneak into a club or see a movie. Attracting boys  
was never hard, so playing girlfriend with one for a couple weeks helped  
to. Alone with herself, it was so much harder to pretend. She understood  
why Zack had never spoken the stillborn William's name, it was easier that  
way. But William was gone from this world, she had to deal with the fact  
her son was out there somewhere and she didn't even know his name.  
  
Eventually, who she was had to catch up with her and one December day it  
did. She and Jade were sparring when Master Yen came in with a young guy.  
A guy Jondy knew to well.  
  
"Is this her?" Yen asked.  
  
"You know that boy?" Jade asked.  
  
"Yeah, but sometimes I'd like to forget I know him."  
  
"Thank you for helping me sir," he said to Yen. "May I talk my sister  
alone."  
  
He nodded and left the room, signaling Jade to come along.  
  
"What do you want Zack? Where do I have to go now?"  
  
"Actually, the area seems pretty secure. I just want you to see something."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Your son," he said he said taking a picture out his pocket.  
  
"I don't want it," Jondy said turning away and rushing out the door.  
  
She went upstairs to the room Yen let her stay in and flopped down on the  
fold away bed. Zack followed her shutting the door behind him.  
  
"His name is Colin," Zack said. "He's two now. He's just like every other  
kid in the rest of the world. He's safe. Doesn't that make you happy?"  
  
"Happy? Does it make me happy? No Zack, it make me anything but happy!"  
Jondy  
yelled. "I CARRIED HIM ZACK! He was inside of me, a part  
of my body for nine months. Do you know how much it hurt to have to turn  
away from him? I just wanted a clean break."  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
"You're not sorry, why would you be? You got what you wanted, that  
Elizabeth girl-woman-whatever she is is raising your son. She has your son,  
  
I'm alone, just like you wanted."  
  
"This isn't what I wanted. I made a mistake, I'm sorry I'm not  
perfect," Zack said. "I was just trying to make a  
wrong right."  
  
"I don't expect you to be perfect," Jondy replied. "We made the best of a  
bad situation, I understand that, but you can't seem to understand how much  
  
it hurt. He's two, he's talking, walking. I've missed all these first. I  
can't tuck him in at night. I can't hold him and love him. I don't care how  
  
selfish it sounds, if I can't have all of him I don't want a part of him."  
  
"Jondy," Zack said. "I don't know what to say except I'm sorry. This never  
should have happened."  
  
"But it did," Jondy yelled. "And you can't fix it, stop trying, go away."  
  
He stood there. Jondy got up and tried to push him out of the door.  
  
"Go," she yelled again, but Zack, like a wall, wouldn't move.  
  
She banged her fist against his chest. He didn't budge he grabbed her arms  
and held them still. She crumbled, emotionally weak from all the anger and  
she cried. He didn't know what to do. He could deal with anger, he never  
knew quite what to do with tears. Then he kissed her.  
  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
That was six years ago, the second time they ended up in bed together. Like  
  
the first time, there had been silence after and no good-bye. Tonight had  
been different, tonight he had loved her. Or loved her body at least and  
she let him. And they were both adults now, it was a decision made with a  
clear head. There was no heat cycle, there was no confused Zack trying to  
comfort her in a moment of pain. And she didn't regret it this time. Zack  
wasn't gone this morning, he was laying in bed beside her, holding her.  
There was no shame this time, she loved the big guy.  
  
She didn't know if it had been there all along or if she had come to love  
him during her stay on the Ranch. Did she loved Zack, or did she love the  
man he invented as Adam. And either way, what would she do with this  
feeling? Embrace it or leave it here in this room never to be spoken of  
again? Jondy crawled out of bed, away from a sleeping Zack. She needed time  
  
to think.  
  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
  
Jondy strolled in the door as everyone was sitting down to breakfast. Colin  
  
and Zack sat right beside each other talking quietly. Colin had a huge  
smile on his face. Zack was everything he wanted, his father. He didn't  
need a mother, he had one, or so she kept telling herself. How significant  
could she be if Zack hadn't bothered to remember she was Colin's mother.  
  
"Jondy," Colin said looking up. "Where you been?"  
  
"I went for a walk."  
  
"Good Morning," Zack said giving her a warm smile.  
  
"Good morning," she replied joining the others for breakfast.  
  
She had trouble eating, her stomach was jumpy. Why had she given in last  
night? Why was she fated to do this over and over again with Zack every few  
  
years. She was starting to ask herself if there was a plan in all this. Did  
  
some force beyond her control want Zack and herself together. No matter how  
  
much she wanted to deny it, they were bonded forever, they had a child  
together.  
  
"Mom," Colin said.  
  
Jondy's head snapped to attention and then she realized he was talking to  
Elizabeth.  
  
"What is is Colin," Elizabeth said.  
  
"Dad and I are going to be in a father/son competition," Colin said. "We  
signed up yesterday."  
  
"Me and my dad are signed up too," Case said.  
  
"You know we're going to win," Colin said "Dad's like the man of steal."  
  
"So what?" Case snapped.  
  
"Whats your problem?"  
  
"My dad, my dad, blah blah blah," Case said. "My mom was just as special as  
  
your dad."  
  
"I never said she wasn't," Colin argued. "What's wrong with you?"  
  
"Your what's wrong!" he yelled. "I'm just like you, but you act like you're  
  
better."  
  
Case broke away from the table and ran up to his room. Charlie got up to  
follow him and Zack got up also.  
  
"Let me talk to him," Zack said.  
  
"Why? Cause you are one of them, you understand?" Charlie asked. "Case is  
my son."  
  
"I know he's your son," Zack said.  
  
"Then let me handle this," Charlie said. "Every time I turn around these  
days, there's someone else who thinks they know what's better for my child  
because of a couple gifts he inherrited. I can handle my child."  
  
"Okay," Zack said.  
  
Charlie went upstairs.  
  
"I'm sorry," Colin said. "I didn't mean to make him sad. What did I do?"  
  
"Colin," Jondy said. "You didn't really do anything. He's been sad for a  
long time, but he's been really good at hiding it."  
  
"Why is he sad?"  
  
"When you started this, you were looking for a father and he was looking  
for a mother. You got what you wanted, he didn't."  
  
  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
  
Later that day Jondy sat in the living room playing chess with Colin. It  
was a game she found to be quiet boring, but Colin ad Zack loved it. Like  
father, like son. Zack entered the room and looked over the boys shoulder.  
  
"Good job," Zack said to the boy.  
  
"Check mate," Colin said. "You're not even trying."  
  
"I'm bored," Jondy replied.  
  
Charlie and Case finally came downstairs. They had been up there talking  
for hours.  
Colin popped up and ran over to Case.  
  
"I'm sorry," Colin said.  
  
"It's okay," Case replied. "I mean I like your dad, I just miss my mom."  
  
"Still friends?"  
  
"Best friends," Case said and the boys embraced.  
  
Jondy smiled to herself. Colin came back over.  
  
"Another game?"  
  
"Play with your father," Jondy said getting up.  
  
She walked into the kitchen to grab a soda and saw Elizabeth reading a  
letter.  
She was just about to walk out when Elizabeth put it down.  
  
"Jondy," Elizabeth said.  
  
"Yes," she said turning back around.  
  
"We need to talk," Elizabeth said.  
  
Elizabeth sat on a stool and Jondy sat down opposite her.  
  
"Your son is very special to me," Elizabeth said. "I want the best for  
him."  
  
"He's not my son, he's your s--"  
  
"Please, let me talk," she interrupted. "I had a son who's name was  
William. God took him away. It took me a few years to accept it, but it's  
true. I love Colin as much as I ever could have William, but he's not mine.  
  
He feels it, I can tell by the way he responds to you. He needs you now."  
  
"He only likes me because I'm the fun one," Jondy said. "You're his mother,  
  
the disciplinarian, not me."  
  
"You don't even see how you've already become that in some ways. I do,"  
Elizabeth pointed out. "I have to go. My Aunt, she's sick and she needs  
someone to take care of her. I'm not taking Colin with me."  
  
"You can't leave him here alone," Jondy said.  
  
"Alone? His father's here, his uncle's here, his cousin's here," Elizabeth  
said. "And you're here." She put a hand on Jondy's shoulder. "And I know  
about you and Zack."  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"His bedroom, last night, I saw you leaving it."  
  
Jondy took a moment to gather her words. "Zack and I did what we did,  
but he doesn't even remember I'm Colin's mother," Jondy said.  
"That's how much it doesn't matter."  
  
"Except it does matter," Elizabeth pointed out. "Colin can't face the truth  
  
if you don't. You are Colin's mother, I'm not"  
  
"She's my what?!" a little voice said.  
  
They turned and saw that Colin was in the room. Jondy cursed herself for  
allowing the conversation to go this far.  
  
  
"Is it true?" Colin asked Jondy.  
  
"How much did you hear?" she asked him.  
  
"You're my mother?" he said looking confused. "Is Zack really my father?"  
  
"Yes"  
  
He turned to Elizabeth.  
  
"And you, who are you?" Colin asked her.  
  
"The woman who raised you?" Elizabeth told him. "The woman who will always  
love you like a son."  
  
Colin stood there in silence, contemplating what he just heard.  
  
"So my mom is an X5, just like my dad?"  
  
"Yes," Jondy said. "But you don't want to go spreading that around."  
  
"You ashamed of me?" Colin asked.  
  
"No," Jondy replied quickly. "But I've told you there are people who would  
hurt you if they knew where you came from. I had to protect you Colin, you  
were never even suppose to know Zack was your father. The same people that  
are after me and your father, the same who hurt Tinga and tried to hurt  
Case, would have been after you if anyone knew. I couldn't keep you,  
because I couldn't take the chance that someone would catch up with me and  
hurt you or take you back to Manticore and make you a living experiment."  
  
"You've been lying, all this time," Colin said. "When we came here you said  
no more lies."  
  
"I didn't know how to tell you. I was a young teenage girl when I had you,  
mostly living off the streets. I was just learning how to take care of  
myself, I couldn't take care of you. So your father and I agreed it was for  
the best if you believed Elizabeth was your mother. If you didn't know,  
they couldn't know, but you found out some things anyway. The thing about a  
lie like this is, once you're in it, it's so hard to get out of."  
  
"Mom?" Colin questioned turning to Elizabeth. "All this is true?"  
  
"Your dad hasn't remembered yet," Elizabeth said. "But it's true."  
  
"So you're not my mom?" Colin said.  
  
"She is," Jondy said. "In all the ways that count she is your mother."  
  
"But I want you to get to know your real mother Colin," Elizabeth said.  
"There's no reason not to. You discovered so much, there's no reason for  
you not to know. I want you to get to know her as your mother. I'm going to  
Boston. I have a sick Aunt there, you can stay here."  
  
"Boston?" Colin questioned. "You can't go to Boston. You can't leave me,"  
he said frantically. "I barely know her."  
  
"You have to stay," she said to the boy. "And you do know Jondy. You're  
just shocked and scared. She's scared too."  
  
"Your scared of me?" Colin asked her.  
  
"I'm scared you won't forgive me," Jondy said kneeling in front of him.  
"I'm scared you won't understand that all I ever wanted was for you to be  
safe."  
  
Colin stared at Jondy for awhile. His mother and he hadn't even guessed. He  
had understood there was a connection, but he never imagined. His mother?  
Somehow he couldn't look at her and see a mother.  
  
"I understand," Colin said putting a hand on her shoulder. "I know why you  
did it, I guess...mom."  
  
Jondy broke into tears. She hadn't realized how long she'd been waiting to  
hear him call her mom. He'd said it just to get use to the word in  
association with her, he hadn't expected the tears. She pulled him into her  
arms and held him, whispering 'I'm sorry.' Elizabeth silently stepped out  
of the room with tears in her eyes.  
  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Colin kept quiet about the knowledge he had gained about his biological  
mother, so Elizabeth and Jondy kept quiet and let him deal with it. He was  
distant from Jondy now. He'd let her hold him, but they were no longer as  
close as they were when he thought she was just some random Transgenic.  
  
She and Zack went on as if they had never made love at all. They talked,  
but never about there night together. It bothered her, but what bothered  
her more was Colin's reaction to her. When Elizabeth left at the end of the  
week, he cried. Jondy knew, in the end Elizabeth was the mother he knew and  
loved.  
  
He was silent the whole day after she left. Zack tried to console him, but  
he preferred being alone. So Zack gave him space. As the days rolled on,  
Colin began to open up to his father again. Then Case and Charlie, but he  
avoided Jondy. She let him be, not wanting to play mommy before he was  
ready to accept her. Still, she worried that day would never come.  
  
Then the day came that Jondy knew, it was happening again. She was tired  
from simple task, she was eating anything not chained down, and moody. She  
was pregnant again, or so she guessed. She'd stop sitting with Zack at  
night, just so she could crawl in bed and rest.  
  
While Charlie and Zack had the boys out for the day she went to the drug  
store and bought a pregnancy test. She ran home, took the test, and paced  
the floor. It confirmed her worst fear. She and Zack had produced another  
child. Another child -- she hadn't even made things right with the first.  
  
Soon after she heard the giggles of a little boy and the sound of voices  
coming through the front door. It was almost too soon, no it was too soon.  
She came in to greet him trying to appear as normal as possible. Case was  
holding a trophy nearly as big as himself.  
  
"Dad and I won Aunt Jondy, we won," Case said excited.  
  
Jondy was visibly shocked by this announcement. "Really?"  
  
"Colin wasn't at his best," Zack said patting his son protectively on the  
back.  
  
Colin still hadn't chosen to open up to Charlie and Case about the last  
truth he had discovered, the one he hadn't been looking for. They didn't  
know that he was dealing with the knowledge that the woman he always  
believed to be his mother, wasn't.  
  
"I'm going to bed," Colin said running to his room.  
  
"I better talk to him about sportsmanship," Zack said.  
  
"No," Jondy said. "That's not the problem. I'll handle it." She looked  
toward his room. "It's time I took some real responsibility for him." She  
turned to Zack. "We need to talk, too -- I guess after dinner."  
  
"Okay"  
  
Mary and Buddy came with big smiles and congratulations to Charlie and  
Case. They invited them to a cook out they were having outside, Zack  
declined. Jondy said she had things to do and went up to Colin's room as  
Case left with his father. When Jondy reached Colin's room she found him  
playing chess against himself.  
  
"Is that fun?" she asked.  
  
"I think so."  
  
"Like father, like son," Jondy said sitting in front of him. "We haven't  
really talked Colin, since, you know, you found out. We need to talk."  
  
"I know," Colin said turning to her. "I know we need to talk, but I don't  
know what to say to you."  
  
"You have any questions?"  
  
"Do you think my mom will ever come back or has she abandoned me too."  
  
"No one's abandoned you Colin. We both love you. "  
  
"Then why did she leave me?" Colin said. "I know that you --- but you're  
not my mom. I don't--"  
  
"I don't know what to do here either, but I think Elizabeth is giving us a  
chance to figure it out before it's to late."  
  
Colin looked away. "If dad doesn't remember where I came from, if he only  
knows I'm his son because we told him, does that mean I'm not important  
enough to remember?"  
  
"No, Colin," Jondy said.  
  
"But he remembers you, remembers stuff from Manticore. He even remembers a  
lot of bad stuff. But he didn't remember where I came from."  
  
"Colin, you know how I know your dad loves you. Your dad never had to do a  
thing for you. No one would have stopped him if he left you with Elizabeth  
and never saw you again. He could have done the easy thing and really  
walked away and never seen you again, but he stayed in your life Colin. He  
protected you, your mother, and still protected all of us."  
  
"And you?" Colin asked. "You walked away. You didn't want to see me?"  
  
"I wasn't brave like your dad," Jondy told him. "He could look at you, know  
you were okay and move on until the next time he got to see you. I knew if  
I ever got near you again, I'd never want to be away from you. That's why I  
was afraid to look at you. When you were two, your father bought me a  
picture of you. I didn't even want to look at that. But even though I was  
scared, when he left the next morning I picked the picture up off the  
dresser and looked at you and melted." Jondy reached for his hands, taking  
the smaller ones in hers. "I don't regret anything more than being selfish  
with you. I wanted all or nothing and ended up with just that, nothing."  
  
"I want to look at you and see my mother," Colin said. "I just can't. It  
doesn't feel right, it doesn't sound right. I'm sorry."  
  
Jondy didn't want to tell him it felt right and sounded right to her. "You  
don't have to call me mom," she told him. "You perhaps found more truth  
than you were looking for, but at least you know the truth."  
  
"Am I an X5?" the boy asked. "You're an X5, my father's an X5. Am I an X5?"  
  
"No, X5s were slaves," Jondy said. "It's a manufactures label. You and Case  
came from the same place as other little boys and girls. You weren't  
manufactured. You're just a little boy. That's why you're special, not  
cause you come from a couple of X5s. Your more than a designers label  
Colin. You came from love Colin, I love you Colin. I need you to hear that  
from me and really hear me. I love you."  
  
Colin stood silent for a moment staring away at his chess pieces. Then he  
turned back. "I love you. I'm sorry for--"  
  
"You don't have to be sorry for anything," Jondy said pulling him close. He  
hugged her and she hugged him back.  
  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
After Dinner, Zack and Jondy met in his room. They had arranged to meet  
there before hand. Jondy had to many regrets with Colin to waste time with  
this pregnancy. She hadn't planned it, but she wouldn't repeat past  
mistakes. She had enough regret for a lifetime.  
  
"I suppose you're ready to talk about what happened between us," Zack said  
closing the door.  
  
"We had sex," Jondy said. "There was nothing to talk about."  
  
Zack seemed almost hurt by that comment. "If there's nothing to talk about,  
why the urgency?" Zack asked.  
  
"Because now there is something to talk about?" Jondy told him.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Our child," Jondy said.  
  
"Colin? What about him?"  
  
"No," Jondy said, "Not Colin I'm pregnant...wait, you remember I'm Colin's  
mother?"  
  
"You're pregnant?!" Zack said shocked. "Damn, I try to do it right and I  
still screw up."  
  
"What are you talking about?" Jondy asked. "Have you been lying to me? Have  
you been lying about how much you remember?"  
  
She looked into his eyes and suddenly saw angry Zack, pissed off Zack,  
serious Zack. Zack was all there and he had masked it well.  
  
"Everything after the gunshot is blur," Zack said. "I only half remember  
pieces of what landed me here. All I know is they did something to me to  
bring me back. I was protecting you and Colin."  
  
"Protecting us from you?"  
  
"From the old me," Zack said. "At first, when you came I only had these  
flashes, snapshots, moments. Then one day there was a flood a flood of  
images, sounds, voices, yelling, stomping. I began to remember me."  
  
"So why would you keep it hidden?"  
  
"Because you liked Adam, you wanted to be around Adam. No one liked Zack,  
they tolerated Zack. And Adam didn't fail you!" he yelled. "Zack failed,  
Zack died, I was hoping Adam had a chance." Zack sighed. "Zack hurt  
people."  
  
"If was Zack was so bad, do you think I'd be here?"  
  
"You're here for your son, you've said so. And the only reason he even  
wants me is because he doesn't know it was me that took away his mother."  
  
"You gave him a mother," Jondy said. "You were right Zack. If I had kept  
him, he probably would be dead and so would I. I was the selfish one for  
wanting all or nothing. You, at least, stayed in his life."  
  
"You loved him," Zack said. "And I took him away. I was real good at that,  
making people's lives miserable."  
  
"You gave us a life," Jondy told him. "Do you realize what we'd be if not  
for your actions? Killers, slaves."  
  
"I'm not suppose to be here," Zack said. "I died, I saw the darkness come  
and I wasn't afraid. I thought peace, but there is no peace for me. They  
made me and they decided that I couldn't even die when I wanted to. It's  
never over, I wanted it over."  
  
"Maybe it wasn't there decision that brought you back."  
  
"Are you talking about God?" Zack asked. "What could he possibly want with  
me here? Except to torture me. "  
  
"Maybe there is a reason you're here. We're grown Zack, most of us X5s are  
fine, we know how to protect ourselves. But your son, he needs you," Jondy  
said. "And he's not the only reason I'm here. Any of us would have come for  
you. I want to be here."  
  
"Why would you?" Zack said. "I remember what I was, X5 dictator."  
  
"I'm not going to lie to you, you were C.O. asshole at times," Jondy told  
him. "But Zack, you gave so much of your life to our safety, more than  
anyone ever expected of you."  
  
"I was a control freak. I made Tinga leave her family, I took your son, I  
tried to break up Max and Logan. Don't try to make me feel better, I know  
I'm a failure. I failed Mace in the end."  
  
"Mace? He didn't get out."  
  
"Yeah," Zack replied. "They shot Mace in the head the night of the escape.  
I saw it. It was the second time I failed him."  
  
"When was the first?"  
  
"He was four. They had 12 of us out there in the woods and he was the  
youngest. You weren't there, neither was Max, Ben was. I was only six. It  
was a simple mission. I had to lead them back to base, that's all. But Mace  
got distracted. He followed something, but he found something else. Some  
thing Manticore made, a mistake I assume, a Nomolie. Luckily I had come  
looking for him. I found him, scared the thing away. Whatever it was bit  
into him good. He was crying, I had to carry him on my back. Everyone was  
afraid then and Ben didn't help with his monster stories. An X3 found us,  
bought us back in. Lydecker said I should never abandon a mission for one  
solider, told me never to abandon the group for the sake of one solider. I  
was weak he told me, I had to be stronger, had to think, not feel or I  
would always fail. He was right."  
  
"You were six Zack," Jondy told him. "You have to let things like that go.  
Six year olds shouldn't be responsible for four year olds."  
  
"But I was the oldest, I was suppose to be."  
  
"You were suppose to be six. You were suppose to be in school and playing  
with video games and trucks. You were the oldest child Zack," Jondy told  
him. "You're not God, you're not perfect, you were only a little boy, an  
amazing little boy for what you did, but just a little boy."  
  
"It was suppose to be over. I wanted it to be over," he said with a tear  
falling down his cheek. It was the first time she saw him cry. She known  
him all her life and it was the first time she'd seen him cry. She held him  
close his head was laying against her stomach. He didn't want to cry, she  
could feel him resisting.  
  
"I'm going to make things right with this one. I promise," he said.  
  
Jondy realized then, even with his memories, he was still missing parts of  
himself. He was a little boy again.  
  
"You're not alone in this Zack," Jondy said allowing her fingers to comb  
through his hair. "It's both of us. I've made mistakes to Zack. After you  
bought me that picture of Colin, I did look at it. There was a baby you  
never knew about Zack. After we -- the second time we -- same thing, I got  
pregnant, I took care of it."  
  
"You got an abortion?" he asked shocked.  
  
"Yeah," Jondy said. "I didn't think anything could hurt worse than losing  
my son, I was wrong. I can't go through losing a baby again in any kind of  
way."  
  
"I'm sorry," Zack said again. "I'll make things right."  
  
"It's not just you Zack, it's not all on you, it's us."  
  
She turned his face up towards her. "Say it, it's us."  
  
"It's us," he said and pulled her face down to his.  
  
He kissed her gently and Jondy knew then that she loved him. When she had  
begun to love him, she didn't know. If he loved her, she wouldn't asked.  
Zack would never be what he was again. The old Zack had been scattered, the  
shell of Zack that was Adam had been cracked, and this was what was left.  
  
"Whoa," a little voice said  
  
"I'm sorry," another little voice said.  
  
The kiss broke and they turned to see Colin standing the doorway with Case.  
  
"We'll leave," Colin said grabbing Case's hand.  
  
"No," Jondy said. "We need to talk."  
  
"You want me to leave?" Case asked.  
  
"You don't have to," Jondy told him.  
  
The boys came in the room. Colin had just told Case about Jondy being his  
mother. Case was shocked, but not surprised. Colin was a little  
uncomfortable in the room. It was weird seeing his father kissing Jondy  
when for so long he'd seen him paired with Elizabeth, his mother, in his  
mind. It was like catching him with the baby sitter. He hoped his feelings  
toward her would change.  
  
"I told Case," Colin told them.  
  
"I think it's great," Case said.  
  
"Well," Jondy said. "We have some more news."  
  
"What?" Colin asked.  
  
"I'm pregnant Colin," Jondy said. "You're going to have a sibling."  
  
  
  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Some Months later. . . . . .  
  
  
Colin sat side by side with his father on the porch watching Case and  
Charlie put the last of there bags in a car. They were moving again, moving  
away. Colin hated Charlie for taking Case away. He and Case understood each  
other.  
  
"You'll miss him," Zack stated.  
  
"Yeah," Colin said.  
  
"I know what it's like. After the escape, it was never the same," Zack  
said. "Some of us were in, some were out. You didn't wake up knowing they  
would be there. It was scary."  
  
"You think he'll forget me?" Colin said.  
  
"You'll see each other again," Zack said. "You're brothers in the only way  
that counts."  
  
"In the heart," Colin said with a smile, but he wasn't really happy.  
  
"In the meantime you have a new little sister to amuse you," Zack said.  
"You can teach her all about the world."  
  
"Are you going to tell her what you are, what we are?"  
  
"Only when she can understand."  
  
Colin saw a car pull up.  
  
"Who's that?" he asked.  
  
The car stopped. Two women and a man got out.  
  
"Oh no, not her," Colin said with a bit of anger in his voice.  
  
Zack's eyes suddenly lit up. Colin looked at him with disgust. He saw Case  
walk up to her and give her a hug. Zack got up and they approached each  
other slowly. Colin watched her carefully.  
  
"Zack," Max said with a smile.  
  
"Max," he replied and they hugged.  
  
Case walked over to Colin as he watched them.  
  
"You could say hello," he said.  
  
"I could, but I'm not," Case said.  
  
Zack looked over at Max's male companion and studied him intently for a  
moment.  
  
"Ben?" he questioned. "But you--"  
  
"Yeah," Max said. "He did, this isn't Ben, it's Alec."  
  
Alec knew that stay in Seattle where they met had been blocked out.  
Remembering his grip, he was in no rush to remind him.  
  
"Never knew the guy, I just look like him," Alec told him.  
  
"You escaped after the fire?"  
  
"Yeah," he replied.  
  
"Original Cindy," he said. "Nice to see you again."  
  
"Same here."  
  
Jondy came out holding a small bundle. Max and friends approached her with  
Zack. Jondy hugged her sister and then she got a look at the baby.  
  
"She's gorgeous. My sisters make beautiful babies," Max said.  
  
"Well Zack had something to do with it," Jondy replied.  
  
"This is my friend," Max said introducing the woman beside her. "Original  
Cindy."  
  
"The smart one, right?" Jondy asked.  
  
"You said you had to meet her someday," Max replied.  
  
"You got a little heartbreaker there," Original Cindy said.  
  
"So does Colin still hate me?" Max asked.  
  
"Colin's dealing with a lot right now," Jondy replied. "I'm letting him  
deal."  
  
"What happen to I'm not taking my son back and marrying his father."  
  
"Eva happened," Jondy said referring to her newborn daughter. "We're going  
to try. It's all anyone can do I guess."  
  
Max presented Zack with a folder. "It's all there. All paper work you'll  
ever need to be Adam Zackary Tompson and Marci Jondy Tompson, parents of  
Colin and Eva Tompson."  
  
"Thanks Max," Jondy said. "And thank your friend too."  
  
"We have to go now," Max said. She turned toward Colin. "Hi Colin," she  
yelled. He waved reluctantly.  
  
Max and her companions got back in the vehicle. Jondy watched Zack as he  
watched Max leave. She wanted to ask him exactly how he felt about her.  
Then he turned to Jondy, gave her a quick kiss and kissed his daughter on  
the forehead. Colin observed them all from a distance. How could they all  
dismiss things so easily? Max had made a mess of all their lives. Charlie  
walked up to Zack and Jondy and said his good-byes.  
  
"Come on Case," Charlie said.  
  
They understood he needed time with his son. Plus, it was already arranged,  
unknown to Charlie, that Case would be protected. However, Case's new  
guardian would never interfere unless necessary. Colin watched him go.  
First the only mother he had ever known, now Case. And what was he left  
with, an infant and the parents who had thrown him away. He felt as if he  
had lost more than he had gained.  
  
  
  
That night Colin sat by Eva's crib. He watched her, sleeping peacefully.  
  
"It's so easy for you," Colin said. "They kept you. Why did you have to be  
born?"  
  
He paused for a moment.  
  
"It's hard enough without 'Eva is so cute', 'We're gonna make up for all  
our mistakes with Eva', 'Eva makes us a family'. So I wasn't family enough  
for them."  
  
The bitterness in his voice increased every moment.  
  
"They should be making there with me, not with you. I just got them back, I  
just found out the truth. And then you show up and everything I had hopes  
for, goes away. I never got a chance to be her son, I was getting to know  
her and now she has to take care of you. What's left for me?"  
  
He got up and stared at you.  
  
"That's okay. I'm strong, just like my father, I can take of myself. I  
don't need anyone. Let them dote over little Eva, make it right with Eva. I  
don't care."  
  
Colin went and crawled in his bed and looked over at the empty bed where  
Case had slept. He changed beds, he wanted to sleep in that one and have  
that feeling of warmth and familiarity again.  
  
  
END 


End file.
